


A Marauder's Legacy

by lindajenner



Series: Harry in Time - Variants on a Theme [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Family Fluff, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-27
Updated: 2019-05-10
Packaged: 2019-12-18 18:18:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 71,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18255308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lindajenner/pseuds/lindajenner
Summary: Nope, nope, not doing this again.With a little help from a sentient Hogwarts, Harry and Sirius destroy Voldemort and decide that they can have the childhood they both deserve.Remus as an Uncle? Why not?But how? And who is who's father?





	1. Chapter 1

**12.01am, Wednesday, 31 st of July 1985**

 

Harry snarled into the darkness. Bloody typical, the Department of Mysteries was always loosing their lights. Just his damnable luck that it would happen while he was studying the Veil. He rose from his crouch, reaching for his wand in his sleeve-holster… only to hit his head on something.

Something that shouldn’t be where it was. There was nothing in the Veil room, expect the Veil and it’s platform and he hadn’t been close enough to the Veil or the Arch to touch either of them. So what, exactly, had he hit?

His fingers met bare skin. That wasn’t right, either. He was wearing a lightweight, long-sleeve T-shirt and had been wearing the same type of shirt for the last month, as the DOM was always cold and he dressed for comfort. But right now? His arms were bare.

He huffed a sigh and whispered ‘ _lumos’_.

And was met with a sight from a nightmare.

The cupboard under the stairs, # _4_ Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey.

It took Harry a few seconds to pull himself out of the start of an anxiety attack. Loosing focus right now could be fatal. If this was just an illusion and he moved the wrong way, it could mean that he inadvertently put himself into the Veil. Not a good idea. So Harry focused. He sent his hard-earned wandless magic tendrils out to sense any magics within a set distance, in this instance, he knew the Veil room was roughly twenty yards from side to side. And he’d been in the middle, so sending out tendrils to ten yards should be enough to locate the Veil’s Arch or the enchanted door to it’s room.

The tendrils came back, one by one, small images embedded in their surfaces.

“What the…?”

A single image stood out. An oval shaped plaque, a house number. The Arabic numeral ' _4_ _'._ The rest were things he was intimately familiar with, a toy Beef-eater’s guard-house, a toy soldier, cricket bat, a board game, a book and a stuffed grey sheep. Things Dudley had broken and thrown out, things Harry had found and his accidental magic had repaired.

“Oh, you have **_got_**  to be kidding me.” Harry groaned. He flopped back down on the mattress and rested his head against the cupboard door, until suddenly he sat up straight, an excited expression settling on his face. “Sirius!” He gasped. “Sirius is alive. But…” He trailed off. His tilted and he thought for a bit.

“No. I’m not doing this, I’m not anyone’s slave, I’m _**not**_ going to be abused, again.” He very deliberately didn’t say anything about Privet Drive not being his home. Until he had a new identity sorted and established, saying anything like that would bring Dumbledore down on him.

“Right, first things, first. Do I transfer the Blood wards to Dudley or not?” He sighed again. “Probably a good idea. It’ll buy me time. And once Dumbles starts looking for me, who knows who he’ll tell and who **_they’ll_**  tell. I may loath Vernon, but mum loved Petunia and Dudley turned out alright in the end.” Harry smirked a wicked little grin. “And I know exactly where Petunia kept Mum and Dad’s stuff.”

He hauled himself to his feet, his bruised five year old body shaking with the effort. A few seconds to pulse his magic through his body and heal the worst of his injuries and Harry quietly pushed open the cupboard door. He took a deep breath and after making a quick stop in the kitchen to grab a set of tongs and a crystal drinking glass, he headed up stairs. Taking care to stay close to the wall, he began to climb the stairs to the bedrooms. Standing in Vernon and Petunia’s doorway, he tossed a pair of weak stunning charms at the two sleeping figures, that would keep them asleep for at least the next half hour, plenty long enough to Harry to do what he needed to. The same charm was tossed at Dudley, as Harry entered his room.

Five minutes, a stasis charm, a cutting hex, an open window, summoning and banishing charms and Dumbledore’s wards were transferred, leaving Dudley with the best anti-wizard security he could get.

Back in the master bedroom and Harry got to, digging around in the base of the wardrobe, hunting for the loose screws that opened the wardrobe’s false floor. When the boards lifted up, he pulled out the two boxes, one jam-packed full of cash, the other held two shrunken trunks, a handful of magical photos and Dumbledore's letter. These Harry pulled out, using the kitchen tongs, he wasn’t sure whether Dumbledore’s shiny silver doodads, the ones that were blood-bonded to Harry, would alert the old wizard if Harry touched the trunks. Better to be safe.

The photos, the trunks and the cash were shoved into the crappy second-hand school backpack that Petunia had found in an Oxfam shop in Guilford, a few days earlier. Over to Petunia’s dressing table and Harry found the two pieces of jewellery that, on her death-bed, she admitted that her mother had asked her to give to Lily, but that she’d kept for herself.

Then it was back down the stairs and after snatching up an apple from the kitchen, Harry opened the sunroom’s French doors and left the house, intending to never return.

Across the yard and into the back lane, up the lane and onto Magnolia Drive, down that to the far end and he was far enough from Dudley and Dumbledore’s Blood-ward to apparate.

But…? Where to apparate to? Did he go to Gringotts? Search out Remus? To the Wheelhouse? To Godric's Hollow?

Before he could decide, a blue/white light appeared. Faint and small, no bigger than a firefly, but it pulsed with magic and Harry knew it was a wandless patronus. But more than that, it was a wandless message patronus. It bobbed around Harry’s shoulders and a tiny canine shape settled on Harry’s left shoulder.

“Be brave, pup, Padfoot’s coming. Love you, Prongslet.” Sirius’ voice whispered.

“Oh for…” Harry snarled again. He lifted his right hand and moved his index finger in the twirling wand-movement for the charm and whispered.

“ _Expecto Patronum_.” Once  the tiny stag appeared, he went on. “Message to Padfoot.” The stag nodded. “The shrieking shack, you stupid dogfather.”

If Sirius was calling him Prongslet, that meant somehow, Sirius _**remembered**_ , as Remus had told Harry that, with Lily’s Animagus form being a dark red-brindled Boxer dog, James had been outnumbered when it came to Harry’s nickname. Lily, Remus and Sirius had called him 'Pup', while James had sulkily called him Bambi. It wasn’t until after Harry had saved him with a stag patronus, that Sirius had started to call him Prongslet. Although, Harry had to admit that Sirius called him James, just about as much as he did Prongslet or Harry. And as Hermione hadn’t coined the phrase ‘dogfather’ until the summer before fifthyear, Harry calling him dogfather would tell him, they were coming from a similar place, time-wise.

He’d better get a move on, because God knows what sort of plan the Marauder had come up with.

 

The shrieking shack stood desolate and lonely.

At least… until Harry pushed the door open and entered the narrow hallway, then he could hear whistling. Bright and cheerful.

He crouched low and crept forward, staying as quiet as he knew how to be, until he could see into the first room. There, sitting on the floor, scratching notes onto a board with a nail, sat Sirius Orion Black. A so-called mass-murderer, that was _**supposed**_ to be in maximum security in Azkaban prison.

A smirk crossed Harry’s face and he crept back from the doorway, once a few feet away, he pointed his finger at a dusty corner and swirled it in a spiral motion. With a mini tornado of dust floating front of him, he started to add a chain of jinxes and hexes to it. A ticking jinx, followed by a stinging jinx, a tripping hex, followed by another tickling jinx, a toe-biter jinx, a jelly-legs jinx, another tickling jinx and lastly a hair-growing hex.

This chain of spells was created by Harry and Sirius during their only summer together. Their usual victims were Moody and Tonks and they did it in such a way that even Molly was forced to admit that it could not have been the twins. But not once did anyone, even Remus, think that it might have been Harry and Sirius.

With his tiny whirling dust-storm, Harry crept back to the door and with a flick of his finger, sent it whirling across the room. Sirius saw the cloud of dust coming, but given the position he was in, he wasn’t able to avoid it impacting on his shoulder.

He laughed and groaned and squeaked and laughed and squawked and laughed, but until the chain had run it’s course, there was nothing he could do. He’d been the one to show Harry how to add a anti-cancelling charm into the mix, so only the caster could cancel the repeating chain.

“Pup! Harry! Please!” He gasped. “Please.”

While this was happening, Harry had entered the room and was standing in front of Sirius. Hands on hips, all of three foot six inches of grieving godson.

“Please, what? Huh, Sirius? What?” Harry snarled. “Please don’t let me go near the Veil? Please stop me from duelling Bella? Please remind me not to call you James? Please help me escape from Azkaban?” Harry waited until Sirius was laying on the floor whimpering, before he cancelled the dust-borne spells.

“Um…” Sirius looked at Harry. “Um…”

“You irresponsible _**mutt!**_ ” Harry screamed. “I needed you and you let bloody Bellatrix hit you with a bloody first year spell.” Harry flopped onto Sirius lap and hugged him tightly. “Stupid bloody dogfather.” He muttered in Sirius’ ear.

Sirius’ arms closed about the tiny body. “I’m sorry, pup. I won’t do it again. The Veil sucked.”

“The Veil sucked? The **_Veil_**  sucked? Living the next **_ten years_**  without you sucked, Siri.” Harry smacked at Sirius’ head with a tiny hand.

“So, um… Pup?”

“Yes, Siri?” Harry sighed.

“How’d we get here?”

“We apparated, duh.”

“No, here. It’s 1985, it’s your birthday. Last thing I remember is going through the Veil. In June, 1995. How’d we get here? The Veil should have killed me, but here I am.” Sirius drew in a sharp breath. “Please don’t tell me you’re dead? Please?”

“I’m not” Harry paused. “Or at least, not as far as I’m aware.”

“Then… how?”

“I’ve no idea, Siri.”

“So… what do we do next?” Sirius tilted his head. “Should we go see Dumbledore?”

“No! Definitely not.” Harry snarled.

“Pup?”

“Dumbledore… he… I won’t say he set us up to die, Mum, Dad and me, but he was prepared to use any advantage he could. Mum and dad’s deaths were… He didn’t cause it, but he knew you weren’t the secret keeper, he knew Mum and Dad didn’t want me to go to Petunia, he knew the full prophecy and he decided that if I was going to be the one to kill Voldy, then I needed to be shaped a certain way. And I couldn’t be moulded the way he wanted, if I lived with any of the people that Mum and Dad named in their Wills. So he had Hagrid take me away, he sealed Mum and Dad’s Wills and left me on Petunia’s doorstep. He knew they didn’t want me, he knew they were going abuse me and he was fine with that. It was for the Greater Good, after all.” Harry finished sarcastically.

Sirius went still, his face blank and when he spoke, his voice was quiet and devoid of emotion. A sure sign of extreme rage.

“He what?”

“You heard me.” Harry huffed. “I’m not doing that again, Siri.”

“Alright. So, what do you want to do?”

“I don’t know. I need time to think and somehow, I doubt that Dumbledore is going to let me have it.”

Sirius frowned in reply, his head nodded in agreement. Then he suddenly drew in a breath and lifted his head sharply.

“What if…? What if we can buy you that time?” He said.

“What? How?”

“Easter holidays, the last time I saw you, you and Ron were telling me about the DA.”

“The DA? Yeah?” Harry replied hesitantly.

“You said that you were using the Room of Requirement.”

“Yeah.” He wasn’t sure where Sirius was going with this.

“You said… it transforms into whatever you need it to be.” Sirius went on.

“Yeah.”

“What if we went there and needed it to be somewhere that time slowed, so we could work out a plan?”

Harry’s eyes widened, then narrowed, in consideration.

“We’d have to take our own food. It’s the only think the room can’t provide.”

“I know how to get into Rosmerta’s storeroom.” Sirius grinned. “That was the last thing I did before Moony left Hogwarts, I had to feed Buckbeak after all.”

Harry burst into laughter, trust Sirius to feed a hippogriff and not himself.

“It’s a good thing it’s Wednesday morning.” Harry was still chuckling as he and Sirius headed for the path that lead to Hogsmeade.

“Why? What’s so special about Wednesdays?”

“In general, nothing. But the last week of July is Dumbledore’s Meetings Week. Monday and Tuesday are ICW. Wednesday is Board of Governors. And Thursday and Friday are Wizengamot days.”

“Oh. Okay…”

“So… how did you get out this time?” Harry asked.

“Same as last time. Animagus and squeeze through the bars, this time I didn’t bother attacking a guard for a wand, I just headed for the dock and swam to Auskerry island, that’s where I was when I sent you that patronus message. I was just about to apparate to John O’Groats and on down towards London, when you sent a message back.”

“Right. How long before the guards work out you’re missing?”

“I was in maximum security, Harry. The human guards only check once a week. On Mondays.” Sirius answered.

“Good. We’ve got a few days, then, ‘cause it’s unlikely that Petunia and Vernon are going to announce that I escaped a locked cupboard under the stairs.”

“What?” Sirius’ voice was back to that blank unemotional voice.

“Oh, get over it. They’re abusive, Siri, always have been and always will. Don’t dignify them by even thinking about them. Dumbles is going chuck a tantrum at them, when he finally figures out I’m gone.”

“True.” Sirius sighed. “Rosmerta's and on to Hogwarts and the Room. Then what?”

“Then I hope that Lady Hogwarts is feeling generous and agrees to help.”

“Lady Hogwarts?”

“Yeah. Hogwarts is sentient, Sirius. If I ask right and she’s feeling generous, she may help us get new identities.” Harry answered.

“But what about old snake-face?”

“He’s easy. I know exactly where all his Horcruxes are, if we can get a hold of them now, before he gets a body, destroying the Horcruxes means his wraith won’t have anything to anchor it to this realm and it will blow away in a gently breeze.”

“How ignominious for a megalomaniac like him.” The older wizard agreed.

Harry just nodded and that obviously distracted him from the path, in the dark it was hard to see and taking his eyes off the path for just a few seconds caused him to stumble and fall. The pain left him on his knees gasping.

“Damn, I hate Vernon.”

“Pup!” Sirius leapt forward and grabbed at Harry’s small body. “Maybe I should carry you, huh pup?” He said, making Harry smirk.

“Onwards to Hogsmeade, then, my knight in dripping armour.” He chortled.

“Oh, har har.” Sirius responded with sarcasm, but he still grasped at Harry and swung him up onto a shoulder. “So… Where _is_ the Room of Requirement?” Sirius asked, almost seriously.

“Seventh floor of the main keep. Left from the Great Tower.”

“Anywhere near Simon the Saracen? Or further around near the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy?”

“Right opposite Barnabas, actually.”

“Cool. At least I know where I’m going.” Sirius tickled Harry’s leg as it rested against his chest.

“Oi, geroff.” Harry kicked at Sirius’ hand.

“There’s Rosmerta’s, you wanna wait here?” Sirius asked.

“Yeah. See if you can get some bread and cheese, maybe some fruit. We can use a duplicating charm, if we’ve got some basics.”

“I’ll see what I can get. I’ve got a window of six minutes, before her alarms go off. I should be right, if she keeps things in the same place she did when we were at school. She did with the meat while I was on the lam.” As he was speaking, Sirius swung Harry down from his shoulder and boosted him up into a tree. “This tree was our lookout, we usually put James or… the rat… up here to keep an eye out. If you swing around to the next branch, clockwise, there’s a flat spot just big enough for a teenage boy’s butt. Should be plenty big enough for your tiny little carcass.” He danced out of the way and his barking laugh became a true bark as he shifted into Padfoot and run off into town.

Harry waited as patiently as he could, thoughts and ideas running through his mind. Creating new identities was no easy thing. If, and it was a big if, Lady Hogwarts agreed to help them, they stood a fair chance of succeeding before Dumbledore figured it out and stopped them.  But what direction to go?

Age him up? Age Sirius down? The options might be few, but the variations that went with them, were almost limitless.

Ten minutes later Sirius reappeared, he had a basket over one elbow, a bag hanging off the other arm and was holding a box of butterbeers in front of his chest.

“Hey, pup? Any good with featherweight charms? Got a nice haul.” He said as he stopped under the tree.

Harry eased himself down onto Sirius’ shoulder. “Yep, I can do that. What didja get?”

“I raided the cold store. Cold cooked ham, boiled eggs, cheese, tomatoes and some butter. Most of that’s in this bag.” Sirius shrugged his right arm and the bag hanging off it swung about. “Then there was some bread rolls and some fruit. The bread is in the basket, along with some of Rosmerta’s scones.” He held out the box of butterbeers and waited patiently while Harry cast a featherweight charm. “And a jug of milk. That’s the best I could do.”

“Siri, that’s brilliant. I was only hoping for a loaf of bread and maybe some meat and cheese. To get fruit, eggs, meat, cheese, milk and a whole carton of butterbeers? I’m stoked. Just… we'll need to reimburse Rosmerta.”

“And we will, pup. She’s too good a woman for us to cheat.” Sirius assured him.

“Thanks, Siri.”

“To Hogwarts?”

“To Hogwarts.” Harry agreed. “Can we use one of the secret passages?”

“Yeah, of course we can. There’s one from the station, that comes out behind a mirror on the foutth floor, between Walter Aragon and Vindictus Viridian, and another from the back of the Three Broomsticks that comes out under Bell Tower.”

“Hmm… probably better to use the station passage. There’s a hidden passage from the fourth floor, to the seventh.”

“Really?” Sirius asked. “I don't think we ever found that.”

“Yeah, behind the landscape at the opposite end of the hall to Headmistress Burke’s portrait. It comes out at the junction of the Fat Lady’s corridor and the North Wing.”

“Oh, nope. Definitely didn’t find that one.”

“There’s a missing portion of the brickwork covered by an illusion, if you know what to look for, you can see the edges blur slightly where they meet up with the real brickwork.”

“And how far is that, from where we’re headed?”

“Well… The passage comes out at the corner of the north and east wings and the Room is just off the north wing, onto the west corridor, so... about a hundred yards? Maybe a little less.” Harry answered.

“Just hope we don’t run into Filch.” Sirius frowned.

“I can cast a disillusionment charm on us, before we reach the fourth floor.” Harry offered.

“What if he’s already on the seventh floor?” Sirius fretted.

“If we create a noise or let one of the portraits spot something, they’ll alert Filch and while he’s searching the fourth floor, we’ll be up on the seventh floor heading for the Room.”

“Oh… Okay, that’d work.”

“Yeah. Hang on. Take me over to those bushes. I’ll grab a bunch of leaves. I can toss a notice-me-not on the fourth floor landscape and throw the leaves, just as we shut the painting. The other portraits should see and hear that.”

“And then they’ll call Filch.” Sirius nodded and sidled up to the bushes that Harry pointed at.

 

Forty-five minutes and two heart-stopping scares later, the two wizards sat on the floor of the Room of Requirement and sighed in relief.

“Alright, pup, we made it. How do you find out if Lady Hogwarts will help us?” Sirius asked.

“We ask, Sirius, we just ask.”

“Okay. How do we ask? I mean, she’s a castle, how does she hear us?”

A chalkboard appeared in front of them, slightly off to one side and the two wizards watched as, with no sign of a stick of chalk, words appeared.

_‘Greetings, wizards. I am Hogwarts. I hear your words through my bricks and mortar. As you speak, your voice echoes and those echoes touch my stonework, allowing me to hear them.’_

“Ah, thank you, Lady Hogwarts, I was uncertain.” Sirius gave a seated bow.

Harry stood and laid a small hand on the stones beside where the door had been.

“My Lady, I know you have a way of seeing into my mind. So much has happened, that I believe the best and easiest method of explanation is for you to get that explanation direct from my mind.”

_‘It is that bad, young wizard?’_  The writing asked.

“I believe it is. An hour and a half ago, I was twenty-five years old and was twenty years in the future.”

_‘Time travel?’_

“I’m assuming so. I don’t know what caused this to happen, every other time I’ve had time do a Wronski Feint on me, I had least had a reason. Not this time. I was studying the Veil and it’s Arch, everything went black and… here I am.”

_‘Yes, a direct explanation would be best. Please wait one minute.’_

The two wizards could feel a slight hum emanating from the stones they leant against. Less than the minute that Hogwarts had asked for, there was a flash of light and a trill and a beautiful red and gold phoenix burst into the room.

“Fawkes!” Harry face lit with a smile. “Hello, Fawkes. How you doing, old fellow?”

The bird answered with a chirping trill, bright and cheerful.

“Oh, good stuff, Fawkes. Now, what’ve you got there?”

“Oh, just an old hat, young wizard.” The voice came from the crumble bit of leather that Fawkes had dropped.

“Aldwin? Is that you, under there?” Harry asked.

“You know my name, young sir?” The Hat, for all that it had no limbs, still managed to scramble out from underneath Fawkes and give the appearance of brushing itself off.

“I do, but come, Aldwin, Lady Hogwarts has need of you. Look into my mind and pass the knowledge that you gain, along to her, please.” Harry requested. “We desperately need help and we know not where to find it.” Harry’s phrasing was formal and elegant.

“Then place me upon your head, young wizard and let me be my Lady’s eyes and ears.” The Hat replied.

Harry didn't speak in answer, what he did do was pick the Hat up and gently dust off a few places, before placing the Hat on his head.

 

Sirius waited patiently, or as patiently as he knew how, until the Hat, Aldwin, sighed and spoke, again.

“That wasn’t pleasant, Mr Potter.”

“No, it wasn’t. And trust me, it was worse living it.” Harry agreed.

“Very well. If you would be so kind as to place me against Lady Hogwarts’ stonework, I will share with her, everything you’ve shown me. It may take a few minutes.”

“Not a problem, Aldwin. I’m going to have a nap, call me when you’re ready.” With that Harry clambered up into Sirius’ lap and using the, way too skinny, man’s shoulder as a pillow, went to sleep.

Sirius looked down at Harry, in sleep, his face was innocent and like Sirius’, way too thin.

“Lady Hogwarts? Can you speak with me while the Hat shows you Harry’s life?” He whispered.

_‘I can.’_  Was written on the board.

“Good. Harry and I need help, my Lady. We just aren’t sure what sort of help. We know that we both need new identities. I’m also thinking that we need to change our appearances. Can you…? Will you help us?”

_‘I will.’_  Was written on one line and then a new line was started. _‘There are only thee options for new identities, but there are a massive number of alterations that can be made in the finer details.’_

“What are our main options?” Sirius asked. It was so odd having a conversation with a chalkboard.

_‘One of you is de-aged. Or one of you is aged up. Or you get a new identity and adopt Mr Potter.’_

“Ah… I kinda like that last one, but I’m not sure it’s a good way to go. I escaped from Azkaban just hours ago and when the human guards do their next rounds in a few days, they’ll discover I’m missing. When that happens, Dumbledore’s going to be told and he going to assume that I’ve gone after Harry.”

_‘Yes. It is likely he will make that assumption.’_

“Right. the Aurors are going to be on the lookout for a man of my approximate age with a male child of Harry’s approximate age.”

_‘I see. I had not considered that.’_  The writing moved to the next line. _‘In that case, I would suggest the altering of age for both of you.’_

“That makes more sense.” Sirius nodded. “I’ll think on it and see if I can come up with anything, while you sort through what the Hat gives you. Then when you’ve done that, if you’d like, I’ll wear the Hat and you and he can see my life. After that, we’ll wake Harry and see what he has to say. How’s that sound?”

_‘I think that is a sensible decision, Mr Black.’_

 

Sirius removed that Hat from his head with one hand, while he held Harry to his chest with the other. He carefully tucked the Hat up against the stone wall, making sure that it was sitting flush on the floor. After that, he dropped his head back against that same wall and let himself fall into a light doze. He wanted to wake as soon as Hogwarts and the Hat called for them.

 

Harry wasn’t sure how much time had passed, or even if any time had passed, outside the Room. But he was certain that Sirius’ bony chin was digging a hole in his skull. He yawned and began to wriggle. Less than ten seconds later Sirius jerked awake and looked around with almost-alarm. Upon seeing the piles of discarded items, he slumped back and yawned.

“Waz up, pup?” The older wizard mumbled.

“Headache.” Harry muttered back.

“What? Why?” Sirius jerked forward and studied Harry carefully.

“You've got a bony chin and it’s been digging into me.” Harry whined.

“What? Oh my god, Harry! I thought it was something bad. Don’t scare me like that, pup.” Sirius slumped against the wall and lightly knocked his head against the wall, more for effect than to cause injury.

“Don’t do that Siri.” Harry’s little fingers grabbed at Sirius’ head and held it away from the wall. “You’ve already got enough damage from Azkaban, you don’t need to self-inflict more.”

“Oh, har har, Harry bloody Potter. You definitely your mother’s son, she always hit when we were down.” Sirius grumbled.

“Well, of course she did. Evans’ are vicious people, just look at Petunia. They were sisters, after all.” Harry reminded him.

A  look of consideration crossed Sirius face before one of realisation settled.

“Damn it. I didn’t want to remember that.”

“Mr Potter, Mr Black.” The Hat’s voice cut the discussion off.

“Aldwin?” Harry answered for them both.

“Lady Hogwarts has gone through the memories provided to me and it appears she has come to a conclusion.” The rumbled piece of leather stated.

“Ah. My Lady?” Harry asked, turning to the chalkboard.

_‘I have indeed. My conclusions are thus…’_  A second chalkboard appeared and lady Hogwarts began to write on it.

_To Do_

  * _Repair health (correct damage and defects)_
  * _alter ages for both_
  * _new identities (bloodline conversions?)_
  * _bloodlines to keep Black and Potter lordships_
  * _identify a caregiver (if neccessary)_
  * _create a back history_
  * _locate finances_
  * _destroy Tom Riddle’s Horcruxes_
  * _locate suitable residence_
  * _add to book of names (or have OWLs and NEWTs misfiled at ministry)_



Once that was complete, writing appeared on the first board again.

_‘No particular order, gentlemen, but I would like Riddle’s Horcruxes dealt with first. If you don’t mind, that is?’_

“Not at all, my Lady-” Harry started, only for more writing to cut him off.

_‘Please, formality is overrated, my name before my untimely death was Gwendolyn Hogwarts. I would have you call me Gwen, please?’_

Harry and Sirius exchanged startled looked, neither of them had known that Hogwarts had once been a living person.

“Of course, Gwen. It would be our honour. And I do believe I speak for both Harry and myself when I respond in kind. We are Harry and Sirius, Gwen.” Sirius said.

_‘Thank you, Sirius. I remember you and your friends, two of them were good and true.’_

“…and one was a rat.” Sirius nodded.

_‘He was.’_

There was the impression that all three nodded and another line appeared on the second ‘To-do’ board.

  * _identify and neutralise Death-Eaters where applicable_



“Where applicable is correct, Gwen. But I’d like to add something to that?”

_‘Of course, Harry.’_

“The removal of the DarkMark.”

_‘Why?’_

“For some it will be a freedom and for some it will destroy them. Some truly were victims, they paid for that for the rest of their lives. Some learnt the hard way that Tom wasn’t the better option and they too paid, even if they did work passed it. But for some it will be completely demoralising, his true and loyal followers, those that sought him out, won’t be able to comprehend the loss.” Harry explained.

_‘I see. Yes.’_

  * _Remove DarkMarks_



Was added to the **_‘To Do’_** board.

_‘Anything else?’_

“So… Riddle? Who’s he, then? Why’s he more important than Voldemort?” Sirius asked.

The words TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE, appeared in the air seemingly made of fire and as Sirius watched, the letters moved and formed four new words. I AM LORD VOLDEMORT.

_‘He **is** Voldemort.’_

“Oh, bloody hell. Voldemort isn’t a real person? He made himself up?” Sirius’ eyebrows rose steeply.

_‘Yes.’_

“Typical. Right, destroy Riddle, destroy Voldemort.” Sirius shook his head in not-quite-disbelief. “Okay. I don’t think there’s anything else, but we can add to the list as needed.” Sirius said after Harry shook his head.

_‘We can.’_

“How do we destroy a Horcruxe?” Sirius asked. “I didn’t think it was possible.”

“It is, it’s just really hard and requires either basilisk venom or fiendfyre.” Harry grimaced. “Gwen? Can you tell? Do I still have one behind my scar?”

“What?” Sirius’ voice was flat.

_‘You do.’_

“Without killing me, how do we remove it?” Harry asked.

_‘There are two options. 1) de-age you beyond the age you were when the Horcruxe infected you, 2) cut open your scar and very carefully drip the venom directly onto the Horcruxe capsule. Followed by phoenix tears to heal the injury afterwards.’_

“No.” Sirius snarled. “We’re not cutting into your head, pup. No way.”

“Yeah, I don’t fancy that, either. So it seems we’re going with the de-aging, then.” Harry shrugged.

_‘De-aging you to prior to that point will also repair any other physical and mental injuries and remove any blocks or charms that have placed on you, since.’_

“Okay… we might want to hold off on that for a bit, then. I don’t want there to be any chance of alerting Dumbledore until we absolutely have to.” Harry reminded them.

_‘I can create a golem. Using live tissue from you, means it can leave the Room.’_  Gwen offered. _'Anything I create must stay here, but anything that is altered by you, is no longer solely my creation and thus, may be removed from my Room.'_

Harry and Sirius tilted their heads in thought.

“If we… make a golem..” Harry started. “… could we then put timer on it?”

_‘For what purpose?’_

“Have a Sirius-golem found… maybe not dead, but soulless and dying. Dumbledore will assume it was Kissed by the dementors. The guards don’t do rounds until Monday. If they find the golem, then? They’re not going to be looking for an altered Sirius with a new identity. Are they?” Harry smirked.

“No they won’t.” Sirius grinned and shook his head in amusement, before pausing. “Why can’t we do something like that with another golem for Harry? Have it found by muggles and taken to a muggle hospital, it would take St Mungo's a week or two to be notified. Most muggle hospitals are checked by St Mungo's once a month.”

_‘If we were to put it where it’d be taken to one of the smaller hospitals, one that St Mungo's only gets to three or four times a year. That would be better.’_  Gwen wrote.

“They do that?” Harry asked.

“Which ones would you suggest?” Sirius asked at the same time.

_‘They do. Some of the smaller more remote hospitals don’t get the same turnover of new patients, mostly just the same locals. They’re fairly isolated and don’t get a lot of tourists.’_

“Sounds almost perfect. What’s the catch?”

_‘They may decide to send the golem on to a larger hospital if we select something too small.’_

“Or maybe we could have the golem appear to improve and deteriorate by turns, if they think it’s improving, they’re less likely to send it away, but then a deterioration would keep it in one place.” Harry suggested.

_‘Ups and downs. That might work better if we select a district or community hospital.’_

“Okay. Where do you suggest?” Sirius asked.

_‘Perhaps Wales? Maybe… Tregaron Community hospital? Cardigan District Memorial? Or Withybush General? They would all work.’_

“Whichever you feel best. Probably not a bad idea it we don’t know.” Harry mused.

_‘Agreed. You can’t tell, what you don’t know. I shall deal with the golems.’_

“How do we make a golem that will pass St Mungo's testing?” Sirius questioned.

Two large bowls appeared, one much larger than the other and in front of the bowls a barrel of wands.

_‘I will require certain things from each of you. Firstly, both of you look through the wands, find something that will work with you, remembering that you will only need it for a few hours.’_

Harry and Sirius shrugged and began to dig through the barrel, Sirius quickly found an oak wand that warmed in his hands, but Harry was forced to reach almost to the bottom of the barrel before an ash wand accepted him.

_‘Very good. We will start with Sirius.’_ Gwen began, but Harry cut in.

“I though we were doing Riddle first?”

_‘We will be, however, it takes time to grow a golem and given Sirius’ age and size, I would estimate approximately six to eight hours. For you, Harry, half that, maybe less. But I need to get the process started and then we can concentrate on Riddle.’_

“Ah. That makes sense. Sorry for interrupting.”

_‘Not at all, Harry, you didn’t know and I did ask for Riddle first.’_  Gwen moved to a new line. _‘Harry, I need you to cast a nerve-blocker on Sirius’ hand, I’ll need a portion of one of his fingers.’_

“What? Why?” Sirius asked, closing his hands into fist and holding them to his chest.

_‘To create a living golem, not an earthen one, I need blood, sweat, tears, muscle, bone and hair. Once it’s fully grown, you will each pulse your magic through the golem and it will fill the body and give the appearance of a shattered core.’_

“Ah… Sorry.” Sirius grimaced.

_‘It’s fine. I can get half the requirements from one finger, a severing charm to cut a finger off at the distal joint, will provide enough material. Add to that tears and hair. And while I said sweat I don’t actually need liquid sweat, I need the oils and skin detritus that can be found in sweat. A hard edged scrapper along an arm will provide what’s needed.’_

“Ew.” Harry screwed his nose up.

_‘True, but that’s why less than half of 1% of Healers will recognise a living golem for what it is.’_

“How do we heal the wounds?”

_‘A drop of de-aging potion, just enough to revert you backwards by a few hours.’_

“Okay. I’m going to assume the larger tub is for Sirius and not me.” Harry grinned and ducked Sirius’ swipe.

“Cheeky pup.”

“Line up, Siri, let me get balanced and I’ll start. I’ll put the nerve-block at the wrist. No, Siri, your other hand, let’s not cut up our wand-hands. Once I’m done, you can repay the favour.”

 

Ten slightly uncomfortable minutes later and Harry turned away from the tubs.

“That’s gross.” He flicked the wand in his hand and conjured a pair of screens to shield the tubs from sight.

“Thanks pup.” Sirius was slightly green-faced.

“At a guess, I’d say, you’ll never be a healer, Siri.”

“Gods, no.” Sirius put one hand over his mouth and ran for a newly appeared bathroom.

“Okay…” Harry drawled. “Wasn’t expecting him to be like that.”

_‘He was like that when he was at school, too. It wasn’t the sight of blood or even severed limbs, but the sight of a body being repaired, that he could never watch.’_  Harry thought he could read Gwen’s amusement in the words.

“So, next is...?” He asked.

_‘Destroy all the Horcruxes bar the one behind your scar.’_

“Okay. I’m going ask for a basilisk-venom-proof vessel, large enough for all five items.”

_‘I was under the impression of there being seven?’_

“That was then. Right at this point in time, there’s six. The diary, the ring, the locket, the cup, the diadem and me. It’s not until he murdered a ministry witch, whose name I always stuff up, in 1994 that the seventhwas made. And if we’re leaving mine alone until the golems are grown, that makes five.”

_‘Yes, I understand, now.’_  Gwen wrote and in a newly created clear space, a tall, narrow, phial-like vessel appeared. At first Harry thought it was glass or crystal, but seeing the way it glittered in the light, he suspected that it was diamond or some other magical equivalent. As he watched, it filled to the ¾ mark with a silvery/green liquid, raw basilisk venom. The deadliest substance known to the Wizarding world.

Sirius emerged from the bathroom, still pale but no longer green.

“Better, now?” Harry asked.

“Yeah. Gwen gave me a nausea potion, so if I don’t see the golems, I shouldn’t have any more problems.” He nodded at the new clearing and it’s occupant. ‘What’s that, then?”

“That is the basilisk venom we’re going to use to destroy the Horcruxes.” Harry answered.

“Right. Um… where are they?”

_‘Simply request that I bring them to you. One at a time, please. I don’t want my castle being blown to pieces.’_

“Got it.” Harry took a few deep breaths and then said clearly. “Lady Hogwarts, I require the diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw and the Horcruxe it contains, to be brought to me and placed within this vessel containing the venom of a basilisk.”

Gwen made no reply, but the diadem appeared, inside the vessel and dropped down into the venom. The diadem twisted and turned, rolling over and spinning in place, trying to avoid the poison. But there was no escape. Abruptly the diadem shuddered and an inky black cloud burst out of it, only to be dissolved by the venom. The diadem sank to the bottom of the vessel and settled face down, rocking to a halt.

“One down, for to go.” Harry grinned.

“Four? I thought…” Sirius trailed off.

“Seven in 1994, six in 1985. Five plus me. With one destroyed that leaves, four plus me.”

“Oh, right, gotcha. Four.” Sirius nodded.

“Lady Hogwarts, I require the diary of Tom Marvolo Riddle and the Horcruxe it contains, to be brought to me and placed within this vessel containing the venom of a basilisk.” Harry directed.

Within a minute, the diary lay in the bottom of vessel, resting against the diadem, it’s pages fluttering in the still disturbed liquid.

Sirius nodded and Harry spoke again.

“Lady Hogwarts, I require the ring of Marvolo Gaunt that holds the fabled Resurrection Stone and the Horcruxe it contains, to be brought to me and placed within this vessel containing the venom of a basilisk.”

_‘Placing the ring in the venom will shatter the stone, Harry.’_  Gwen warned.

“I know, Gwen and that’s not a bad thing. Calling souls back to this plane of existence, it's painful to those souls. The loss of the ring will also put a serious kink in Dumbledore’s plans and I’m okay with that. I only used the stone six times, once on my way to face Tom. Once each to call Fred, Tonks, Lavender and Colin. And once to yell at Dumbledore.”

Sirius laughed at Harry vicious expression, before his own eyes widened and he stared to bounce on his toes.

“Wait. Wait, I’ve got a fabulous idea.” He crowed.

“What, now?” Harry asked, his voice pained.

“We need to create a new identity for you. What if we used Remus’ sister as your new mother and had James and Lily blood adopt you? If Gwen can provide James’ blood?”

_‘More details, please, Sirius.’_  Gwen wrote.

“Remus has a twin sister, Rommy. If we made her your new mother, as she’s a squib, Remus could be your magical guardian. And James…? Well, he had an accident at school and until Lily announced she was pregnant, no one was quite sure whether James could actually have children. St Mungo's had to do some sort of fancy blood binding thing when you were born, apparently James sperm weren’t strong enough to make you healthy, so they bound your blood to the Potter bloodline to repair any damage and make you a healthy bouncing baby boy. If we make you older? Born before Lily got pregnant and have James blood adopt you, that way, regardless of the Harry-golem, you will still inherit the Potter estate.” Sirius explained.

“Oh, Oh. _**Oh** **!** **Yes!**_ ” Harry nearly screamed.

“What? What?” Sirius frantically asked.

“Make you and me, twins. Our mother will be Remus’ sister and our father will be… wait for it… _**Sirius Black!”**_ Harry yelled Sirius’ name.

Sirius blinked a few times, before starting to snicker.

“Gwen, belay my request regarding the ring. We may need it for-” Harry trailed off when he saw Gwen writing.

_‘No, we won’t. I can’t provide the blood of a deceased person, but… I am able to take a sample of Harry’s blood and extrapolate Lily and James’ from it. Also in regards to Romulinda Lupin? I’m sorry to say that Miss Lupin is fatally injured at this moment. I can summon her blood. Not enough for Conversions using the ages you are now, but if we were to de-age Sirius to be the same age Harry is? I should be able to get enough for that. Let me do some checking…’_

The Room was still as both Harry and Sirius waited for Gwen. The idea of being Sirius’ brother filled Harry with joy. While Sirius was slightly stunned that Harry would want him for a brother. Harry conjured a notebook and pencil and started making notes, there was so much information they needed to have, to make this work.

_‘I can get enough blood for Conversions to make the two of you Miss Lupin’s twin sons, but only if you are aged-altered to be roughly seven years old, born sometime in 1978.’_  Gwen’s next words weren’t written for nearly ten minutes.

Harry started to laugh. “Our birthday will be the 1st of April 1978.”

“April fool’s day?!” Sirius laughed as he asked.

“Yep. Fred and George will just have to share it with us.” Harry grinned.

“Oh, hell yeah. The second generation of Marauders.” Sirius kept laughing.

_‘Lovely, all four of you together. My halls will never be the same.’_  Both Harry and Sirius could feel the amusement and resignation in Gwen’s words.

“Okay, that’s settled. Gwen my last request stands. Bring on the ring.” Harry waved at the venom-filled vessel and watched in surprise as the ring dropped into the liquid.

The gold of the ring-band twisted and stretched, letting the stone fall free. A cloud of black emerged from the band and was quickly dissolved. The band then fell to the bottom and joined the dairy and the diadem, but the stone seemed to float in the venom. Finally it gave a twitch and exploded, the force rocking the entire vessel and causing the venom to slap up it’s sides. It took nearly a minute before the liquid settled to just ripples.

“Lady Hogwarts, I require the locket of Salazar Slytherin and the Horcruxe it contains, to be brought to me and placed within this vessel containing the venom of a basilisk.”

Another minute and another Horcruxe was gone.

Harry paused when Sirius gave him a bread roll with ham, cheese and tomato slices sandwiched inside it, he quickly munched away, finishing off his impromptu meal with a mug of milk.

“Ta, Siri, didn’t realise how hungry I was.” The boy grinned, still wearing a milk-moustache. He turned back to Gwen’s boards and picked up where he’d left off. “Lady Hogwarts, I require the Badger Cup of Helga Hufflepuff and the Horcruxe it contains, to be brought to me and placed within this vessel containing the venom of a basilisk.”

Sixty seconds later, Harry sighed in relief, they were all gone. The only Horcruxe left was the one behind his scar.

“Finally.” Sirius slumped back and flopped into a seat that he’d conjured earlier. “What do we do next?”

_‘Now we finalise the details of your new identities.’_  Gwen wrote.

“I thought we were going to be…” Sirius frowned. “How the heck do I say this… my godson and I about to become my sons?”

_‘There’s more to it than that, Sirius. Let me bring up another board, so we can get the details down and add or clarify where we need to.’_  A third board rolled out of the piles of discarded items that filled the Room and took up a position between the other two. A list of incomplete details wrote themselves on this new board.

**_Names:_ **

**_Date of Birth:_ **

**_Father:_ **

**_Mother:_ **

**_Residence:_ **

**_Finances:_ **

**_Guardian:_ **

_‘How much can we fill in?’_  Gwen wrote on the original board.

“Names. As we’ve already decided that we’ll be Sirius’ sons, we decided to stay with the Star-and-celestial theme that the House of Black favours.” Harry said.

“Harry’s new name is going to be Ares Evan Black and I’m going to be Mars James Black. Evan and James after our blood adopted parents, James Potter and Lily Potter nee Evans.” Sirius added.

“And our date of birth will be the 1st of April 1978. Sirius first, that way he will become Lord Black when the current Lord Black dies. And with the adoptions, I will be Lord Potter, again.” Harry offered more details and Gwen wrote them in the appropriate place.

“Like Harry said, our father will register as Sirius Orion Black, with blood adoptions by James Potter.” Said Sirius.

“Our mother will be Remus’ sister, I’m sure you know her details better than we do. Plus a blood adoption by Lily Potter.” Harry said.

“Can we use a house that Dumbledore doesn’t know about for a residence?” Sirius asked.

_‘I think it might be better to start fresh. Romulinda, as I said earlier has been fatally injured, she’s not dead yet, but that’s only because of that fact that I’ve slowed time in the Room to extreme levels. Outside this Room, time is almost at a standstill.’_

“Thanks for that.” Harry said. “Isn’t there anything we can do for Romulinda?”

_‘No, unfortunately not. Her throat has been slit, along with all the major vessels, windpipe and oesophagus. There’s nothing the muggles could do and even with magical help, she would never be able to talk again or swallow food. The damage is too great. And being unable to use a wand, the chances of her long term survival are poor and her quality of life would be even poorer.’_

“Bugger.” Sirius muttered.

_‘Indeed. What I can do is… Romulinda won a small amount of money in the National Lottery, just over a month ago. I can enlarge that, by tapping into lost and unclaimed winnings, and create a paper trail, use that to show that Romulinda purchased a cottage somewhere, in the country.’_

“Devon.” Said Harry. “Ottery St Catchpole, as close to The Burrow owned by the Weasley’s, as possible.”

The boards remained static for a few minutes before Gwen began to write.

_‘There’s an empty cottage quite close, opposite the end of their lane, in fact. It’s a semi-muggle cottage, as many are around that village, it has power and lights, but no telephone. The previous owner died some months ago, splinched himself while drunk-apparating. It’s remained for sale through the Ministry, since. I can alter the Ministry’s records to show that Romulinda bought it with her winnings, almost a month ago, taking full possession just yesterday.’_

“Great. That’s another bit sorted.” Sirius beamed at the nearest board and patted a brick in the wall.

_‘Two actually. That just leaves guardian.’_

“Remus.” Harry and Sirius spoke together.

_‘Won’t happen. Remus Lupin is a werewolf, there’s no chance that either St Mungo's, the DMLE or the werewolf register will let that happen.’_

“Damn.” Sirius grumbled.

“Oh, I don’t know about that.” Harry smirked.

“What?” Sirius frowned. “What do you know that I don’t?”

“Lots of things, Siri. But… Gwen? Did you see the potion I made for Teddy and St Mungo's?”

It took a few moments before Gwen replied.

_‘Oh… my… goodness. You created a cure for lycanthropy? Truly? Does it work?’_  Gwen’s amazement was obvious.

“It most certainly does. If we dose Remus? Gwen what then?”

_‘He’ll be questioned about being registered. But… I can alter his memories, just a fraction. I can’t make many changes, but I can make him think he’s suffering from partial side-effects related to lycanthropy without actually having lycanthropy. It won’t change any other memories, he’ll remember the pull of the moon, but not that he actually shifted. And once the disease is gone from his body, I can also remove any bite scars, it will seem as though he was never bitten.’_

“That’s going to confuse the crap out of a few people.” Harry warned.

_‘Too bad. Remus Lupin has suffered enough. If we can do this right now, there’s no reason we can’t have Remus at St Mungo's on the night of a full moon. The next **is** tonight.’_

“Which will just prove that he not a werewolf.” Sirius crowed.

‘ _Exactly.’_ Gwen drew a smiley face at the end of the line.

“How do you think he’d like to raise us? Would he be happy about it?” Harry asked Sirius.

“Yeah. I think he would be.”

_‘Check that you’re happy with what I have, please.’_  Gwen requested.

**_Names:                      Mars James & Ares Evan Black_ **

**_Date of Birth:            1 stApril 1978 _**

**_Father:                       Sirius Orion Black (birth) & James Fleamont Potter (blood adoption)_ **

**_Mother:                      Romulinda Jeffery Lupin (birth) & Lillian Juliet Potter nee Evans (blood adoption)_ **

**_Residence:                 Sorrell Cottage, Ottery St Catchpole, Devon_ **

**_Finances:                   Heir Black (Mars), Heir Potter (Ares), Romulinda Lupin (National Lottery)_ **

**_Guardian:                  Remus John Lupin (birth Uncle)_ **

Harry read through the details and turned to Sirius, he tilted his head and raised an eyebrow.

“I’m happy with that. But I’d like the Book of Names to read 'La Pen', base it on a badly handwritten ‘Lupin’, our mother’s name. Let the book think that, as Romulinda isn’t a witch, if we’re raised by our maternal Uncle, we must be muggleborns. That way it won't be corrected, not until we claim our Heir Rings at Gringotts. And with McGonagall doing the home visits, we can widen the wedge between the late Harry Potter or Sirius Black and the Black twins. Otherwise I like it. You?” He asked.

“Yeah, that’s fine.” Sirius agreed. “I have a question about Romulinda, though. How can we be certain that Remus will be called?”

_‘The area she lives in is a poor area, not quite a slum, but definitely a lower income area. The residents try to avoid the police being called, it tends to not end well.’_

“Right... and Romulinda’s killer?” Harry asked.

_‘He’s still in the flat. Romulinda was planning to use her lottery winnings to leave his control and he walked in on her, as she packed the last of her things. He saw a box of legal papers on the table and reacted badly, he beat her, before slitting her throat. She not the first he’s killed, but I’m going make sure she’s the last. I can simulate an outburst of accidental magic directed at him. It would have to be significant enough for the Aurors and obliviators to be called in. I will ensure that the outburst carries enough of Romulinda’s magical signature that it will be attributed to her.’_  Gwen informed them.

“Will the golems be ready by the time we need to move?” Harry wanted to know.

_‘Harry’s golem will be ready for use in about an hour, but Sirius’ is still three to four hours away. For now I suggest that the two of you, eat, bathe and get some sleep. When the golems are ready, many things will have to happen in a short amount of time.’_

“I bags first shower.” Harry yelled and ran for the bathroom.

“There’s two showers, pup.” Sirius was only a few steps behind him.

 

“What have we got left to do?” Sirius asked.

Gwen answered by showing an updated list.

_To Do_

  * _Repair health (correct damage and defects)_
  * _alter ages for both_
  * _new identities (bloodline conversions?)_
  * _bloodlines to keep Black and Potter lordships_
  * _~~identify a caregiver~~ **DONE**_
  * _~~create a back history~~ **DONE**_
  * _~~locate finances~~ **DONE**_
  * _destroy tom riddle’s Horcruxes **5 done -** **HARRY’S SCAR**_
  * _~~locate suitable residence~~ **DONE**_
  * _~~add to book of names (or have OWLs and NEWTs misfiled at ministry)~~ **DONE**_
  * _identify and neutralise Death-Eaters where applicable_
  * _Remove DarkMarks_
  * _Activate golems_



“Okay… more than I thought.”

_‘Not really. Most of it is planned. Harry? The Death-Eaters and DarkMarks? Who do I need to eliminate and whose marks do I change?’_

“Once my scar is dealt with, I’d like every DarkMark to fade to nothing, not immediately, but in say month's time? As you please, I'll leave the when, to you. As for the Death-Eaters? The ones that need eliminating are the Carrow Twins, Alecto and Amycus. Barty Crouch Jnr, he’s at his father house, by the way. Thorfin Rowle. Walden McNair. And of course the rat, Peter Pettigrew.” Harry sneered, before sighing. “Unfortunately, they need to be spread out. Crouch first, please. Space them out over the course of a few months, maybe even a year or more. As long as they’re gone before we get to Hogwarts, it won't be an issue. Oh, and make the rat’s come-uppance public. Very public. Diagon Alley, public. Make it clear the Weasley’s are victims.”

_‘That I can do.’_

"Don't forget Rosmerta. We need to reimburse her for what I took." Sirius added.

_'I'll have my house-elves return what hasn't been eaten and replace what has. She won't disadvantaged, I assure you.'_ Gwen wrote.

“And Severus Snape?” Harry turned to Sirius.

“What about Snivellus?” Sirius screwed up his nose.

“I found out why Dumbledore trusted him.”

“Oh? Why?”

“After he found out that Tom was going to target us, he went to Dumbledore. Begged him to hide us, swore to spy for Dumbledore in exchange, but demanded that no one be told. After mum and dad died, he swore an oath to mum that he would do everything he could to keep me safe and help me kill Tom. He wasn’t aware that I was a Horcruxe or that Dumbledore had other plans for me. He knew nothing about my home life other than the lies Dumbledore told him. It wasn’t until just a few weeks before the Ministry and your spectacular fail at [Flacking](quidditch%20foul%20where%20a%20keeper%20goes%20through%20one%20of%20the%20hoops), that he discovered how wrong he was and by then Dumbledore had him by the short and curlies. He died during the Battle of Hogwarts, Tom set Nagini on him, he died basically in my arms, but he gave me his memories first. Of meeting mum for the first time, fights with you four, discussions with Dumbledore and the things he’d done to try and protect the students from the Death-Eaters that Tom had put in the school. To his last breath, he was loyal to mum and did everything he could to help me win. And he died for it.”

Sirius sighed. “Well, shit.” He muttered. “That means I gotta respect him for doing the right thing, over the easy thing. Don’t I?”

“Yep.” Harry nodded. "He's not a nice man, nor a good one, but he still chose to do the right thing."

“Damn.” He sighed again, before shaking his head and focusing on Gwen’s board.

The list had changed.

  * _identify and neutralise Death-Eaters where applicable **IN PROGRESS**_
  * _Remove DarkMarks **IN PROGRESS**_



_‘That leaves us with-’_  Gwen created a smaller list on the first board.

  * _Repair health (correct damage and defects)_
  * _alter ages for both_
  * _new identities (bloodline conversions?)_
  * _bloodlines to keep Black and Potter lordships_
  * _activate golems_



_‘The second item will actually deal with the first item. The third item will include the fourth.’ And the fifth item must be completed before the other items.'_  Gwen informed them. _‘I’d like to explain what I will do. From here on, things must happen in a specific order and once we start, within a limited timeframe.’_

“Alright. We’re listening.” Sirius placed Harry on the seat beside him and sat forward, giving Gwen his undivided attention.

_‘Firstly are the golems. You must pulse your magic into your golem, in short bursts and keep going until I say stop. I suggest that Sirius does his first, as his physical condition is the more fragile. Then Harry, you will do the same. At that point I will dispose of the golems, one to Azkaban and the other to… Well, you don’t need to know where. Or when I will terminate them.’_

“Right.”

“Agreed.” Sirius and Harry spoke at the same time.

_‘Next is Harry’s scar. For that I will provide a de-aging potion that will regress you to exactly one year old. To the minute. This will expel the Horcruxe from you and reverse any damage and remove any charms or spells that may have been placed on you after that age. Then there will be Harry’s re-aging. If the 1 stof April 1978 is going to be your new date of birth, I need to calculate the exact number of days you need to be, days and hours by preference. To do that I’ll need a time of birth as well.’_

“1st of April 1978 for both of us, but Sirius is to be older. Time of birth could be… 4.21am for Sirius and 4.49am for me.” Harry suggested. “How’s that sound?”

_‘In that case I can just use round numbers, I don’t need to fiddle with minutes, at least for Harry and all I need to do for Sirius is to make him so many minutes older than Harry. Easy.’_ Gwen scribbled out quickly.

“When is this all going to happen? I mean what time outside the Room?” Harry asked.

_‘Outside the Room it’s not quite 2.15am. I’d like to have Remus done before 3am and the golems relocated by 3.30am. Drawing blood for the conversions and adoptions and the recovery time should take us to 4am outside time, give or take a few minutes. The actual conversion will take only tem minutes at most.’_

“That’s quick.” Sirius commented.

_‘It is. It’s complicated and obscure, but quick. To be twins you and Harry must drink the same potion from the same goblet, at the same time. After entering the Conversion Basin, I’ll set off the runic sequence and the two of you will submerge, you only need to be completed submerged for a few seconds. Once completed, you’ll need to do an identity test, you’ll need to confirm your names and date of births using a black quill. It will set the changes using your blood and magic.’_

“Ouch.” Harry muttered rubbing his left hand at the memory of Umbridge’s detentions.

_‘After confirming, next are the blood adoptions. New because I’m using Harry’s blood to extrapolate back, to get James and Lily’s bloods, the adoptions will register as having been done prior to Harry’s conception. So you shouldn’t need to confirm them. Another identity test will let us know for sure.’_

“Fingers crossed.” Harry muttered.

“How do we drink from the same goblet as the same time?” Sirius screwed his face up in confusion.

“Straws? Would drinking straws work, Gwen?” Harry asked.

_‘They would and if I mix the potion and put a barrier down the exact centre, a straw on each side would ensure that you both get the same amount of potion.’_

“Oh hey, speaking of potions? Moony's? When will that happen?” Sirius asked.

_‘Ah… that had best be first._ ’ Gwen’s list altered and she continued. _‘I want to dose him before he wakes, it’ll make it much easier to alter his memory if he’s asleep.’_

“You know your capabilities best, Gwen, we’ll trust you to know how long you’ll take to do something.” Harry assured her.

_‘Thank you, Harry, I shall do my best.’_

“I know you will, you always do.”

_‘From there it’s simply a case of depositing you two in Romulinda’s flat, placing the supporting documents, magical residues and supplies. Residue of accidental magic for you two and a burst large enough to summon the Aurors and obliviators. I’ve an idea for that, but it’s better if you two don’t know, your reactions need to be genuine. Supplies consist of clothes, photos, toys, that sort of thing, very little will be in the actual flat, most will be boxed and left in the cottage in Devon. Your signatures will be in a number of rooms, just basic things like summonings, reparos, colour changes, that type of thing. Now... nothing is going to be expensive, very little is going be new, we have to keep within what was Romulinda’s previous budget.’_

“Fair enough.” Sirius nodded.

“What about the documents?” Harry asked.

_‘There’ll be a notice of her winnings from the National Lottery, receipt of purchase for the cottage, copies of her Will, your birth certificates, her diary, banking details and various other odd bits and pieces.’_

“Okay. It there anything else we should know about?”

‘ _The Conversion potion I offer is an unusual one, in that after confirmation with a black quill, it becomes permanent and it will affect your mind. You will still remember everything, but as we don’t want this to be reversible, it’s the only option, so your minds will have to become as physically immature as your bodies. Your behaviour and attitude will change to match your physical age.’_

“So…?” Sirius drawled.

“So, there’ll be little change for you, Siri, and I’ll act more like you than I should.” Harry grinned.

“Pup...” Sirius warned.

“Alright, alright. Our bodies and minds will be the same as any other seven year olds, we’ll be children, Sirius, inside and out. We’ll feel like children, act like children and behave like children.We'll just remember having been adults, too.” Harry explained.

“Oh.. okay.” Sirius shrugged. “I can deal with that. I think.”

“If we do this? You’ll have no choice, because it’s not reversible, it’s permanent.”

Sirius took a deep breath before answering.

“I had a shitty childhood, Harry, Gwen. Most Blacks aren’t good parents. Mine used the Cruciatus on us, on me and Reggie. We had to act like purebloods every minute of the day. If we slipped, we paid for it.”

_‘They were unfit to be parents. I saw that, even as young as at their sortings.’_  Gwen agreed.

“They were, so let’s not think about them, anymore.” Sirius nodded. “So we’re going to be kids, again.”

“Yep. God help Moony.” Harry grinned.

_‘Indeed.’_  The two wizards could see the amusement in Gwen’s writing. _‘Alright. This is the list as it stands now. Have a read and let me know if you think anything need to move.’_

**_To Do List (Harry/Ares and Sirius/Mars)_ **

  * **_brew LycanFree - dose Remus and alter memories_**
  * **_golems - activate and relocate_**
  * **_draw blood (Sirius’ for conversion) (Harry’s to extrapolate Lily and James’ for blood adoptions)_**
  * **_de-age Harry to remove Horcruxe_**
  * **_re-age Harry (to be 2678 days old)_**
  * **_de age Sirius (to be 2678 days, 28 minutes old)_**
  * **_bloodline conversion (+identity testing, setting of names and d.o.b’s)_**
  * **_blood adoptions_**
  * **_deposit Mars and Ares in Romulinda’s flat (+supporting documentation, photos and accidental magic residue)_**
  * **_use Romulinda’s magical signature to create magical outburst sufficient to summon Aurors and obliviators._**
  * **_have house-elves return and restock Rosmerta's supplies_**



Harry tilted his head as he read through the list. He ran through a few scenarios in his head before nodding.

Sirius read the list and thought about what Gwen had to do behind each item, before shaking his head.

“That’s fine.” Both wizards spoke at the same time.

_‘Are we ready to do this?’_  Gwen asked.

“It would be nice to have had a few others come back, too.” Harry mused.

“Yeah?” Sirius asked. “Who were you thinking of? Remmy?”

“Nah. Remus married on the quiet, he knew the Ministry wouldn’t allow or accept it. I won’t say who to, but they had a son, Teddy-”

“The one you made the potion for?”

“Yeah, that’s him. So if Remus came back like we did, it would be sad, he’d know his wife was dead and that’s not good. No I was thinking of Fred and George... maybe Cedric? I don't know, it's hard to pick.”

_‘Who are they?’_  Gwen asked.

“Fred and George are the fourth and fifth sons of Arthur Weasley and Molly Weasley nee Prewett. Pranksters almost on the same level as the marauders. Started here in 1989 and caused merry hell from their first week. And they basically adopted me as a brother. No matter what happened, they always had my back. Fred was killed during the big battle here in 1998, leaving George alone and at a loss. Cedric Diggory was in the same year, from the same village, he was the Hufflepuff seeker and a good guy. The Tournament? I told him about the dragons and he warned me what to do about the dragon’s egg. The Rat killed him. Tom said, ‘kill the spare’ and Pettigrew hit him with a killing curse. No warning, no chance to fight, no chance to live. Nothing.” Harry was almost in tears.

“Easy, pup, easy.” Sirius rocked back and forth until the small boy regained his control.

_‘Are they the reason you chose Ottery St Catchpole?’_  Gwen asked.

Harry just nodded.

_‘I will make it known to Lady magic, but I have no way of knowing if she will help or not. And if she does, there’s no way to know unless they tell you, personally. You could very easily be in this on your own, Harry.’_ Gwen warned.

“No, I’m not alone. I’ve got Sirius…” He paused. “Is there something we can do that will make us react only to our new names?”

_‘Yes, Harry, once you do the confirmation using the black quill and your new names and date of births are set magically, you will think of yourself as ‘me’, as ‘Ares Evan Black’. And that’s how magic will identify you. You will remember Sirius, but you will also know that he is now your brother, Mars. If you call his name, you will call Mars. If someone calls ‘Harry’ you will look around for the person being called. If someone calls ‘Ares’, you will react. You will be Ares. Harry will be gone.’_

“Thanks, Gwen.”

_‘Not at all. Now… the last thing I want to know is… What would you like done with the Horcruxe containers?’_

“The day the Harry-golem dies? Dump them on Dumbledore’s desk, leave a note that says the Horcruxes are gone and let him worry about it. I’ve done what the prophecy said I had to do, twice even. It’s not my problem, now.”

_‘Alright. In that case, Harry? Write out the recipe for LycanFree. And let’s get started.’_


	2. Chapter 2

**7.09 am, Wednesday, 31 st of July 1985**

Alastor Moody flicked his magical eye around the group of witches and wizards gathered on the small landing. All of them looked slightly disgusted at the condition of the muggle building. But all of them were focused on the door in front of them. A door behind which, the Improper Use of Magic Office had detected a massive amount of magic being used. Even now, nearly five minutes later, Moody could still feel the echoes. Impressive.

“Right.” Snapped in a whisper. “Shacklebolt, if space allows, you go left. Robards, right. Savage, Williamson, straight ahead. Dawlish and I’ll follow. On three. One. _Evanesco_.” He held up a hand and counted, but instead of saying ‘two’, Moody cast a vanishing spell and the door faded into nothing. And “go”, took the place of three.

The team moved in, Shacklebolt first, then Robards, who was followed by the second pair, Savage and Williamson, with Moody and Dawlish, a count of three behind them.

The door opened into a small but neat, nearly empty, living room which flowed through a wide doorway to a kitchen, a hallway off to the left. Shacklebolt headed for the hall, while Robards assessed the living room with Savage and Williams heading for the kitchen.

They stopped a foot or two from the doorway and their shoulders slumped.

“Moody? Found the problem.” Savage said and waved for Moody and Dawlish to join them. He then jerked his head towards the right.

In the space where a muggle cold-box should have been, was a body. A foot off the ground and held against the wall by the multitude of knives, forks and a single decorative letter opener. The man’s blood dripped sluggishly and his head flopped forward at an uncomfortable angle. Signs that told Moody, even without casting a health charm, this man was dead. A single carving knife lay at his feet, the only blade visible, that was not embedded in his chest.

“That…” Moody grunted. “… is the result. Not the cause. I want a residue scan, give me the last… oh, say ten… yeah, ten strongest instances of magic used in this room.” He turned Robards. “Anything?”

“Yes, sir. Echoes of colour-change charms, levitation and notice-me-nots, that sort of thing. All weak. If there were kids here, I’d say accidental magics. Other than that? The room’s clean.”

“Good, go join Shacklebolt. Savage? How’s that scan-” Moody turned back to the kitchen and stopped speaking mid-word, gaping at the scan. “Holy sweet Merlin!” He whispered and stepped forward.

The knives, forks and letter opener all glowed with the residue of a banishing charm, thin lines of light trailing back to…

“Oh, shit.”

A woman’s body on the floor, half in the bathroom and half in the kitchen, she’d been unnoticed due to the hanging man holding all of the Aurors’ attention. Moody studied her, the way she lay, the way her one hand lay pointing towards the man, with the other draped over her throat. Moody twitched his wand and her hand lifted.

“Huh.” He grunted. “That answers lots.”

“Uh.. Boss?” Robards voice came from down the hall. “We got a problem, better get a healer in.”

“Let the muggles deal with it.” Moody advised.

“No, sir.” Robards disagreed and when Moody turned to face the hall, he saw why. A bare patch of floor around the woman echoed with the residue of a weak vanishing charm and the casting line trailed down the hallway, passed Robards and into a room. When Moody reached the door, he looked over Robards shoulder and grimaced.

“Good call, Robards. Get kiddie healers in.” He said without raising his voice.

The sight of the two small boys, pulled at his heart. One boy looked up at him, meeting his eyes tearfully.

“Mars is hurt.” The boy’s voice was wobbly and threatened to break, even as his fingers gently brushed his brother’s hair from his face. He completely ignored Shacklebolt as the tall black man knelt near he and his brother, a visible shield of magic holding the man away from them.

“Someone’s coming, kid.” Moody answered.

“T’ank you.” A ghost of a smile flashed across the small face.

“While we wait, can you tell me your names?” Moody rumbled.

“I’m Ares and dis is Mars.”

“And the people in the kitchen?”

“Mama and her boss.”

“Their names?”

“Mama and Boss?” The boy’s face was confused.

“Hmm… Dawlish, go tell Savage to do an ID scan. Have Williamson check the box on the table, copy and bag everything. Leave the copies for the muggles. Have someone call Bones in.”

A plump woman padded down the hall towards Moody.

“Auror Moody? Healer Tansy Woodloft.”

“Healer.” Moody nodded. “Two boys, magical. Both of them. At least one is injured.” He turned to the room. “Ares? You gonna let Mrs Woodloft help ya brother?”

Ares tilted his head and seemed to study Moody for a moment. “She’s safe? She won’t hurt him more?” He asked.

“She’s safe. She took a oath, made a promise to help people, not hurt them. She might have to hurt him a little to make him better, but she’ll tell you, before she does anything that might hurt. Won’t you, Tansy?” Moody directed the last question to the healer.

“I most certainly will. Hurting my patients is the last thing I want to do.” The woman assured them all.

Ares nodded and the shield broke apart into confetti-like sparkles of light.

“Ooh, nice shield.” A young woman with chocolaty-red hair, trotted into view. “Who did that?”

“Me.” Area answered, causing the woman to blink. “Who’re you?”

“Amelia. And your name is?” She asked.

“’M Ares.” His attention turned from her to the healer as she reached out towards his brother. “Boss was angry, he cut Mama. Mars was t’rown across the room. Boss yelled and Mama threw bright light at Boss. I brought Mars in here, cause Mama always said if we got hurt, to come to her room. We’re here but Mama’s not here. Where’s Mama?” The boy babbled.

“Mama has to stay in the kitchen, Ares. Here, you drink this and I’ll help Mars drink his and we’ll get his arm all fixed up.” Tansy handed Ares a phial of potion and helped Mars to drink his, waiting until both boys slumped in sleep, before turning back to the Aurors. “Find whoever did this and skin them.” She snarled.

“How bad is it?” Amelia’s easy-going attitude disappeared faster than a niffler in a Gringotts vault.

“Both boys are underfed, badly, Ares is smaller but both are malnourished.” Tansy answered. “Both are covered in bruises, Mars more so than Ares, I’d say he’s been trying to protect his little brother. Mars also has a broken arm and a nasty concussion. They’re both suffering from a lack of light exposure, their eyes are strained as a result. At this point I’m not detecting any internal injuries, but given the amount of bruising, I can’t rule it out, not without a deeper scan. Their cores are stable, larger than I’d expect for a pair of muggleborns.”

“Not sure they _are_  muggleborns. The woman in the kitchen? She displayed a significant episode of _[Core Fatalis](core%20death) _Magic.” Moody said.

“And she’s their mother?” Tansy asked.

“Unknown at this point, but probable. Doing a  _[motruus identis](after%20death%20identity%20charm)_  on her, is one thing, but there’s no way in hell, I’ll let anyone, other than St Mungo's or Gringotts, do an identity test on a living being.” Moody shrugged.

“Ah. Of course. In that case… let’s get them to St Mungo's and get working on them.” Tansy stood and with a swipe of her wand, the two boys were laid flat, tucked up against each other. A second swipe and they floated up until they bobbed at waist height. “I’ve a [medi-key](medical%20portkey), here. Who’s coming with me?”

“Bones? You go. We’ll clear the flat. I’ve no idea what to do about the boys, just yet. It will depend on their identity.”

“Sir?” Williamson asked.

“Williamson?”

“I’ve had a quick look through the papers on the table and I want to look further into the stuff in the box. But…? There’s muggle identity documents, with photos, that name the woman and they match with our scans. Her name is showing as Romulinda Jeffery Lupin.”

“Lupin? Related to Lyall Lupin?” Moody asked.

“No idea, sir, but her muggle ID and our scans both say the same thing. So… possibly?”

“I though Lyall only had a son?” Moody said.

“No, it was twins.” Tansy said. “I was a junior healer, my first day, in fact. Scared the Doxy dung out of me when Midwife O’Connor handed me both babies and said ‘here, hold ‘em, I need to work on their mother’. I think I was more stunned than their parents.” She chuckled at the memory.

“Right. On the off chance, she is Lyall’s kid, Shacklebolt? You’re to locate Lyall’s son… Anyone know his name?”

No one answered.

“I can look it up, sir.” Shacklebolt assured Moody. “Probably best from me to go back to the Ministry to do it, though.”

“Do it.” Moody ordered. “Tansy, Bones? Take ‘em and go. We’ll be along when we can.”

Tansy nodded and placed a body-bind on the two boys, then she pulled out an oval-shaped loop of hard leather. She took hold of slid Mars’ unbroken arm and gently push Ares’ arm against it and slid the loop over the two arms. She waited until Amelia put her fingers through the loop, before doing the same. A tap of her wand and they were whisked away.

Moody sighed, partly in relief and partly resignation. He and his team had a dragon-load of work in front of them, if they wanted to be finished anytime soon, they needed to get started.

It was going to be a long day for all his team.

 

Kingsley Shacklebolt looked up as one of the trainee Aurors stopped at his desk, glancing at the clock as he did so. 4.15pm.

“Yes?” He snapped.

“There’s a Mr Remus Lupin here, sir. He said you requested his presence.”

“Ah, good. Show him to one of the interview rooms, a public one, please.” The public interview rooms were nice neat rooms, with table and chairs, suitable for a public setting, the DMLE interview rooms, on the other hand? They were not so nice and not for the general public to see.

“Yes, sir.” The trainee answered and was gone.

Shacklebolt wasn’t looking forward to this. Telling a man that his twin sister was dead was one thing, telling him that he couldn’t care for her children was something else entirely. There was no way in hell, the Wizengamot, WFS or the Werewolf Registry would let him, a registered werewolf, be the primary carer for any children, let alone magical ones.

“Bollocks.” Shacklebolt whispered.

 

Remus Lupin waited patiently in the interview room, he had no idea why the Aurors would call him in, but he suspected it would be something to do with Sirius Black. The man had been one of his best mates, at least until he turned on them all. Remus still had doubts about that, but Dumbledore said the evidence against him was overwhelming.

The door opened and a tall black man entered, floating an armload of papers behind him.

“Remus Lupin?” He asked, sitting at the table and directing the papers to a rest beside him.

“Yes.” Remus answered. “What’s this about? I told the Aurors everything I know about Black.”

“Black?”

“Sirius Black.”

“Oh, right. No, nothing to do with Black.”

“Alright, then what?”

“We… Could you tell me… Do you have a brother or sister?”

“A sister. Rommy.”

“Full name?”

“Romulinda Jeffery Lupin. Why?”

“Mr Lupin, we have reason to believe that a body we recovered this morning, is that of Romulinda Lupin.”

“What?!” Remus gasped.

“A large burst of magic in a muggle block of flats, was investigated by the Aurors. A man was found staked to a wall, held by a dozen impliments. Auror scans showed that they were banished at him by _[Core Fatalis](core%20death)_ Magic, that residue lines traced to Romulinda. Unfortunately, as I said they were cast by _[Core Fatalis](core%20death)_ Magic. She was found in the bathroom of the flat, deceased.” Kingsley didn’t tell Remus that his sister had her throat slashed in what was almost a decapitation. “Upon clearing the flat, we found two children. Both are now in St Mungo's. While searching through a box of legal documents, Romulinda’s Will was found. It listed you as the primary guardian for the children. Unfortunately with you being registered as a werewolf we are-”

“What?! I’m no wolf!” Remus almost screamed.

“You’re registered-”

“I. Am. Not. A. Werewolf. St Mungo's cleared me, years ago.” Remus cut him off.

“..as a-” Kingsley paused. “Wait. What? St Mungo's  ** _cleared_** you?”

“Yes. I was attacked by Fenrir Greyback when I was four years old. I’ve the scars to show for it, but no bites. Not one.”

“I… That… Um…” Kingsley stammered. “But you’re on the register?” It came out as a question.

“Well, I shouldn’t be.” Remus was adamant.

“Um…” Kingsley sighed. “You need to wait here, I need to talk to a senior Auror. I… I’m not sure what direction to go, now.” With that, Kingsley stood up. “Tea and biscuits are there, help yourself, I’ll be back as soon as I can.” And he left.

It took him five minutes to locate Head Auror Rufus Scrimgeour.

“Sir? I have a problem that’s more involved than I have the authority to deal with.” Kingsley said.

“Leave it for Moody.” Scrimgeour directed.

“No, sir. It ties into his case and I’m not entirely certain that Moody has high enough authority for this.”

Scrimgeour looked up and raised his eyebrows in question.

“So… You have 30 seconds to explain.”

“Dead woman this morning, her Will names her brother as guardian to her two children. Our records have him as a registered werewolf. He states that he’s not-”

“Many do, Auror.”

“But not many claim that St Mungo's cleared them.”

Scrimgeour blinked. “St Mungo's, you say?”

“Yes, sir, that’s what he says.”

“So… if St Mungo's did clear him, how did end up on the register?”

“I don’t know sir. I felt it better to seek someone with the appropriate authority, than to blunder in, knowing I can’t do anything.”

“Smart. Alright.” Scrimgeour pushed aside the papers he’d been reading. “Brief me.”

“Yes, sir.”

 

Twenty-five minutes later, Scrimgeour sighed.

“Someone screwed up, but who and where? Either Lupin’s lying or he’s not. Why would he lie, knowing that we can test him quite easily? If he’s not lying? Then we have, what could be a problem. It puts the registry under suspicion of tampering. Oh, joy.”

“Yes, sir.” Kingsley sighed in agreement.

“Alright. You take Mr Lupin to St Mungo's, see if you can get their records department to verify his claim. I’ll head to the registry and get a copy of his original registration and come find you. Then we’ll compare and go from there.”

“Yes, sir.” Kingsley stood and with a nod to Scrimgeour, headed back the interview room and a waiting maybe/maybe-not werewolf.

 

“Mr Lupin?” Kingsley asked. “I’m to accompany you to St Mungo's. Your claim will need to be verified, before we can move ahead.” He gestured. “This way please.”

 

Scrimgeour opened a door and walked through it.

“Amos? You here? I need a copy of a file.”

A jovial face emerged from the ranks of shelves.

“Rufus, old man. What can I do for you?”

“Like I said, Amos, I need a copy of a file.”

“Of course, of course. What name and what type of file?”

“Remus J Lupin. Werewolf registration.”

“Oh dear. Blasted wolves. What’s he done?”

“Nothing. The problem is he’s claiming he’s not a werewolf and that St Mungo's cleared him. You see the issue?”

“N-not… St Mungo's.. but… Oh dear, that could be…” Amos stammered.

“Bad, Amos, that could be really bad.”

“If he’s not? That could be… But making such a claim on the day of a full moon?” Amos frowned in thought. “Claiming St Mungo's cleared him and claiming it on the day of a full moon? Rufus, he either telling the truth or he’s gone insane. When was he bitten?” Amos pulled out the relevant file and opened it. “Ah, here we are. Oh, dear...” he trailed off.

“Amos?”

“Rufus? There’s a good chance, he’s clear.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Two things. One, there’s no healer’s certificate with his registration. Two, he was bitten almost… no, over… over twenty years ago.”

“Twenty, but… He’s only…”

“Twenty-five, in March just gone.” Amos answered.

“Aw, crap. I need a copy of the entire file, Amos. We have to sort this out today. I’ve got two small boys, whose mother was murdered this morning and this is the man that she named as their guardian. Her twin brother.”

“Ah. Do you mind? I think I had best join you and bring the original file. St Mungo's may be able to use a scan to get a magical signature from the forms.” Amos replied.

“Certainly, Amos. Meet you in the foyer?” Scrimgeour asked and when the other man nodded the two headed for the atrium and an apparition point.

 

Healer Tansy Woodloft looked up from her two still sleeping charges as Head Healer Malcolm Strout entered the room.

“Tansy? Are they stable?”

“Yes, sir. I’d like them to sleep a while longer while the skele-grow works. Mars’ arm is responding well, but Ares is likely to fret over him.”

“Good. Can you leave them? We have a… an issue regarding their ongoing care.”

“I can. They’ll sleep until I wake them, or at least another hour.” She joined Mal and left the room, closing the door behind her.

“This way, Tansy.” Mal lead her into a room across the hall, where a number of people were waiting.

“Healer Tansy Woodloft, these gentlemen are Auror Kingsley Shacklebolt, Auror John Dawlish, Auror Bensley Williamson, Auror Alastor Moody, Head Auror Rufus Scrimgeour, Regulation and Control Head Amos Diggory and Mr Remus Lupin.”

“Good afternoon gentlemen.” Tansy nodded to each man. “How can I help, Mal?”

“Can you give us an update on the condition of the boys?”

“I can, but… forgive me, sir, I need to know why Mr Diggory and Mr Lupin are here?”

“We took the blood samples you provided and did identity tests on both boys. Mr Lupin is their maternal Uncle.”

“Oh, that’s grand. I thought that might be the-” Tansy started.

“And that raises an issue.” Mal went on, cutting Tansy off.

“Sir?” Tansy asked.

“Mr Lupin is registered as a werewolf.”

“Oh, dear.”

“It gets more complicated.” Mal huffed. “Mr Lupin claims that we, meaning St Mungo's, cleared him of having lycanthropy quite a number of years ago.”

“But… he’s registered?”

“He is. Unfortunately… or fortunately, depending on your point of view, no healer’s certificate was provided when he was originally registered.”

“Ah…?”

“And to cloudy the potion even more? It wasn’t St Mungo's, Mr Lupin or his family that registered him.”

“Then why was it accepted?”

“Albus Dumbledore registered him.” Amos Diggory sighed.

“Oh, dear.” Tansy grimaced. “He’s Chief Warlock, he should know that he can’t register a third party.”

“He did note that the family were distraught.” Amos said.

“That’s still not sufficient.” Tansy said. “But it’s a moot point.”

“What? Why?” Remus spoke for the first time.

“You are accused of being a werewolf and there’s a simple way to prove if your are or not. Tonight is a full moon. You will stay here, in this room or another like it. If you change, the registry is correct, if you don’t, St Mungo's will void the registration.”

“Oh... Right. Okay.” Remus just blinked.

As did everyone else in the room, the thought not having occurred to them.

“Alright, Tansy. The boys?” Mal asked again.

“Are going to be fine. Battered and bruised, definitely beaten, but we’ve treated that. And thankfully, the bastard suspected of being their abuser is dead. Mars had a concussion that’s been dealt with, but he still has a broken arm, skele-grow is taking car of that, now. Ares has no other significant injuries. Both boys are thin, verging on being malnourished. They were getting food, but it appears that it had little nutritional value. Regardless of Mr Lupin and his condition or lack thereof, the boys will be staying here overnight. They both need nutrient potions and will for at least the next month, it will depend on how they progress. I do believe that we caught them in time and that they should make a complete recovery with no long-term side-effects.”

“Thank you Healer Tansy. Do… Do you think I could see them?” Remus asked.

“They’re asleep and will be staying that way for a while longer. I’ll let you sit with them for… fifteen minutes, no more. They still need quite a number of potions, which I will need to brew and I will not leave them unattended with a potential stranger.” Tansy warned.

“Moonrise is 9.20pm, you should be isolated from 8.20pm. If you haven’t changed by 10pm, I’ll sign a certificate stating that you are untainted by lycanthropic disease.” Mal offered.

“I do suffer from side-effects, though. I feel the pull of the moon, I just don’t change. My senses are stronger and I burn through food faster than uninfected people.” Remus objected.

“But you don’t change form?” Mal asked.

“No, sir.”

“Hmm… I’d like to do a few tests. Both before and after moonrise. Just to determine how much of the disease you do carry and whether it’s possible for you to infect another. Those two boys in that room are orphans, they need a guardian and their mother named you. I need to be certain that they’ll be safe in your care.”

“What about their father?” Remus asked.

“Ah… you recall earlier, I asked about Sirius Black?” Scrimgeour entered the conversation. “Shortly after his capture, Black magically requested you have Power of Attorney over his finances and estate. Today I asked if you were aware of this and if so, had you accepted or rejected it? I also suggested that you not reject it, when you stated your lack of knowledge.”

“Yes, I remember, but you wouldn’t say why.” Remus frowned.

Mal handed Remus two pieces of parchment and Remus glanced at them, only to freeze and re-read them word by word.

“Sirius? Really? Sirius **_Black_**  is their father?” Remus almost screeched the name.

“Yes. Because of his disownment, Lord Black can only claim the boys, _if_ … **_If_**  you reject Black’s request. If you accept Black’s request, it’s up to you when, or if, Lord Black is told about the boys. With their mother dead, it falls to you to be their father-regent.”

“Oh, gods above.” Remus laughed. “If Sirius knew, he’d be laughing his head off.”

“Why do you say that?” Moody demanded.

“Walburga Black was the foulest bitch of a woman I’ve ever had the misfortune to meet. But she was also one of the dumbest. When she had Orion disown Sirius, it was done in a very specific way.”

“Why?”

“A Muggleborn witch was pregnant. And the thing that made Sirius run away from the House of Black, was that the girl came to Walburga and Orion at Yule and said it was Sirius’ child. Now, we all knew she was light-skirted, she’d slept her way through most of our class at Hogwarts, but when she went to the Blacks claiming the baby she was carrying was Sirius’, Orion demanded that Sirius marry her. When he refused and swore a magical oath that he would never marry her or anyone else this family deemed ‘suitable’, Walburga and Orion disowned him, but… they made damn sure that the disownment wouldn’t be passed down to his children.”

“Clever of them.”

“It would have far cleverer of them to make sure the baby was Sirius’ before they got that far.” Lupin grinned. "They didn't do that until it was born."

“It wasn’t his?”

“Oh, hell no! Sirius couldn't stand Christina Wittlaw, he ran to the Potters and begged sanctuary from Fleamont. The canny old bastard made him swear that there was no way the child could be his, before he’d grant it. Sirius made a blood bound oath that he’d never had any interaction with the girl that was not considered classroom appropriate, further he swore that, at that time, he was a virgin. He had just turned 16, the month before. Fleamont accepted his oaths and supported him for the remains of his schooling.”

Moody started to laugh, he got it. “Walburga got greedy, lost out because she was wrong and now one of those boys is going to be Lord Black….” He just shook his head in amusement.

“Exactly.” Remus nodded, before formally stating. “I, Remus John Lupin, do hereby accept the duty appointed to me by Sirius Orion Black. I swear to care for his finances, his estate and his children, as though they were my own and in a manner that he would consider appropriate. As I say, so I do swear.” A soft glow of light surrounded Remus as Lady Magic absorbed his vow.

“Good man.” Moody laughed. “Arcturus is right old bastard, keep him away from them.”

“Unless they ask otherwise, you can bet that fancy eye of yours, I will be.” Remus agreed. “Now, can I see them, please? I didn’t even know about them.” He muttered.

“Williamson? Go with him and bring him up to date.” Moody ordered.

“Yes, sir.”

Williamson might be nervous about being alone in a room with a werewolf, but the healers seemed to think there was a chance the man wasn’t a werewolf and if that was the case? What was there to be nervous of? He gestured to Healer Tansy to lead the way and followed Lupin into the hall and across to another room. On one slightly enlarged bed, two small boys slept, their fingers entwined and their feet resting together.

“…oh, Siri…” He heard Lupin whisper.

He sat down on a seat near the door and waited for Lupin to settle. He knew that eventually the man would turn to him for information and that was exactly what happened some time later.

“Williamson, was it?” Lupin asked.

“Yes, sir.”

“Moody said something about, bringing me up to date?”

“Yes, sir. At the scene this morning I was tasked with checking ID and assessing paperwork. I was the one to initially cast an ID check on Ms Lupin. And I was the one to sift through her papers.”

“Right?”

“On the table in the kitchen there was a packing box and in the top, a smaller box. It held a number of documents.” Williamson paused, he wasn’t sure how Lupin was going to take what was to come. “On top of everything was a purchase receipt… For a cottage in Devon.”

“Oh, Rommy.”

“She was getting out, we estimate that she was on the last trip, that box and the boys the last she had to move.”

“Where would she have got the money, though?” It didn’t make sense to Remus.

“She won it. There was a notice from the Muggle's National Lottery and a bank deposit receipt, as well as a receipt from the Ministry for the cottage purchase.”

“The Ministry? Our Ministry?”

“Yes, sir. The cottage is on the outskirts of Ottery St Catchpole, a mixed village, mostly muggle, but there’s small magical community, a handful of families and a few shops. The cottage itself has muggle electricity and lights, but is also connected to the floo-network. 12 Stoatshead Hill Road South. There are four magical families that live on, or just off of Stoatsheah Hill Road South. The Weasley family are just off the road, on Two Track Lane, the Fawcett family have Willow Cottage, they’re the closest to town, right on the banks of the River Otter. The Lovegood family are the furthest out, on the corner of Stoatshead and Bowtruckle Lane. And the Diggory family are actually your closest neighbours, with only fields and a small wood between them and the cottage Ms Lupin purchased. The few other magical families live on the other side of the village, more towards Ottery St Mary’s. Sorrell Cottage Garden is the floo address for your place.”

“Huh, how about that. I never thought Rommy would have come back the Wizarding world.”

“There’s nothing to say, sir… do you know why she left?”

“Yeah. I’ve a fair idea. I caught her trying to give James a lust potion, the summer before our seventhyear. She had a thing for him and Sirius, both. Quite infatuated, she was. I think... she used go on about their eyes. She stormed out of the house and I’ve not seen her since.”

"You think she might have used a potion on Black?" The Auror asked.

"I do. Sirius had little time for Rommy, he said she was jealous of us being able to use a wand."

"But to use a lust potion? She'd gone straight to Azkaban."

"Yes, she would have, but if those boys are Sirius', that means she was already pregnant when she ran." Remus sighed.

"It looks like it. I wonder if she knew? If she did, she'd have to know that she babies would have been taken from her. Not even having newborns would have kept her our of Azkaban, if she'd succeeded in giving James Potter a lust potion." Williamson added.

“Lust potion?” Healer Tansy asked.

“Yes, ma'am.” Remus answered. "We think my sister may have used a lust potion on Sirius Black, with the boys being the result."

“Well, that answers a few things.”

“Ma'am?”

“Oh, it’s just the boys are very protective of each other. It’s a common effect of being conceived under the influence of a lust potion. When they form positive emotional connections with a person, they become quite protective of that person. Adversely, if the make a negative connection… well, the best we can hope for is controlled animosity.Unlike love potions, where children are not able to any type of emotional connections.”

“Damn.” Remus sighed. “I just hope they missed out on the Black Madness.”

“They have.” Tansy assured him. “I’ve done every scan and medical test possible on them. Other than what I’ve already stated, both are medically in good health. No diseases, no defects, no physical impairments. Both had a larger than average core and are capable of directing their magic. I’ve ordered them both training wands and I’ll give their carer a pamphlet on the usage and recommendations for training exercises.”

“I’m sure that’s going to come in handy.” Remus gave a small smile.

“Mr Lupin?” Mal Strout stuck his head in the door. “Time to go. Auror Williamson will accompany us, we’ll be using a modified treatment room on the second floor. It’s the only room available that has a window that moonlight can reach. I understand that Auror Williamson still has much to discuss with you, so we’re going to be erecting a semi-physical shield across the room, you’ll be in half and Williamson and I will be in the other. At the first sign that you’re going to change, we’ll leave. The shield will give us enough time to get out before your change is complete.”

“The boys?” Remus looked from Tansy to the boys.

“I’ll be staying with them, until they’re ready to discharge and even then, I expect I’ll be seeing them on a weekly basis for a while, probably up to a year. Don’t worry, they won’t be left alone.” Tansy assured.

“Thanks.” Remus tried to smile, really he did, but it was just beginning to sink in. Rommy was dead. Gone forever.

He almost blindly followed the young Auror and the healer and left the room.

 

Morning light shone brightly in Remus face, memories started to filter back in. Aurors and Rommy and her two boys. Mars and Ares. Sirius’ sons.

He clearly remembered stumbling after Healer Strout and Auror Williamson. He remembered hours of paperwork and explanations. Regency documents. Mars was the elder of the two and would become Lord Black one day, but the surprise was Ares. Ares would become Lord Potter. Somehow, James and Lily knew about the boys, knew and had blood adopted them, citing the improbability of James being able to father children. Now Remus was Heir-Regent to House Black and Father-Regent to House Potter.

He also remembered the confusion on both the Healer’s and the Auror’s faces when he stood in front of the open window, bathed in the bright light from a full moon.

And stayed completely human.

Then there were more papers, form and certificates and messages sent here and there. What seemed like hour upon hour of signing this and initialling that. Meeting with goblins and more signing. Blood on this parchment, blood on that parchment. Being given keys, a portkey and a swathe of parchment being placed in a box and being shrunk.

Then a frantic cry for assistance from Healer Tansy, had all three men rushing to her side. Ares had woken and he was distraught that Mars wouldn’t wake. His screams and cries tore at the men.

Until Ares saw Remus.

Then… he was silent for a count of maybe five seconds, before he exploded across the room and knocked Remus from his feet.

A cry of ‘Uncle Remus!’ and the boy sobbing in his arms, erased the Healers unsaid request for him to leave. If the boys wanted their Uncle and it stopped the screaming? They could have their Uncle. Remus had barely closed his arm around Ares when Mars woke. He held out a hand and Remus stumbled across the room and plopped down on the bed with them.

And that was the last thing he remembered.

He looked from one side of the bed to the other, to find both boys sitting at a table beside the bed, chattering away to Healer Tansy, Auror Williamson, DMLE Head Scrimgeour and a young woman who was vaguely familiar. They were pointing photos in an album and telling the adults who they were and stories about them.

“That’s Uncle James.” Mars said tapping a picture.

“That’s Daddy.” Ares ran a gentle finger down Sirius’ face. “Mama said he could turn into a black dog.”

“And Unca James could turn into a big deer with thingies on his head.” Mars put his hands to his head and spread his fingers out.

“Antlers. They're called antler and the deer is called a stag.” Remus offered. “We called James, Prongs.”

“Animagi? Scrimgeour asked.

“Yeah, we all were.”

“Registered?” Asked Williamson.

“I think so. We filled in the forms… or rather… I filled in all our forms, Lily took the pictures and James was to take them in and do the final registry. But they went into hiding a couple days later, so…? You’d probably better check.” Remus pulled himself off the bed and dropped down onto the chair between the boys, who both skidded their chair closer to him.

“What do you turn into, Uncle Remus?” Ares asked, looking up at him with a smile.

“I’m a little different to others, who had both a Common and a Magical Animagus form. My father, your grandad? Well, he thought it was because of the werewolf that attacked me when I was little, younger than you two. When my friends and I started to study about Animagi, I just assumed that, I either wouldn’t be able to shift because of the infection or that my only Animagus form would be a werewolf.”

“And is it?” Mars asked, his eyes bright as they traced around Remus’ face.

“No. I was able to shift and I'm not a werewolf.”

“What is it?” Mars asked.

“My Animagus form is a Dire Wolf, as close as we can figure it.”

“A what?” Williamson asked. “What’s a Dire Wolf? I’ve never heard of it.”

“I have.” Strout offered. “It’s a fictional muggle creature. It’s likely that whoever created it, based it on a sighting of a [Barghest](horse-sized%20dog%20with%20massive%20teeth%20and%20claws).”

“Yeah, that’s what we thought, but I’m not as big as a Barghest and my teeth and claws are appropriate to my size.” Remus added.

“Which is how big?” Tansy asked.

“Muggle Dire Wolves died out thousands of years ago, but they weren’t all that big, about the size of the biggest of the modern American breeds, about two and a half feet tall. Me? Like I said, I’m bigger, I’m a little over three and half feet, at the shoulder.”

“Whoa, that’s huge.” Williamson whispered.

“Can we ride on you, Unca Remus?” Ares asked.

“Are you big enough for that?” Mars asked.

Remus looked to Strout and Williamson with a raised brow. Both nodded in answer to his silent question.

“I don’t think you’ve got time to go riding this morning, gentlemen.” Tansy corrected. “We have discharges to do and prescriptions to make up.”

“And Auror Williamson is to escort you to your new home. Mr Lupin? If you like we can have an elf-team pack up your current residence and move it to Sorrell Cottage.” Scrimgeour offered.

“That would be much appreciated.” Remus grinned.

“But…?” Tansy hesitated.

“But?”

“Perhaps you’d like to remove your new… facial decorations?”

Remus cocked his head and looked at her for a few seconds, before pouncing on the boys and tickling them into submission.

“So, who drew on me?” He asked before tickling one boy then the other. Both boys squealed and laughed and denied they were at fault, however Remus saw the proud glints in their eyes, that they’d managed it.

“Hmm, if no one’s going to own up to it, I guess I’ll just cover it with a glamour until we get home and I can wash it off properly.” Both boys’ faces fell as Remus’ words, but they still held their tongues. “What, you like the look of it, do you?” Both boys nodded. “Well, I suppose I can modify a glamour so you can see passed it, but strangers can’t. How’s that sound?” Both boys grinned and nodded.

  

**Monday, 5 th of August 1985**

The Daily Prophet’s headlines said it all.

**SIRIUS BLACK DEAD!**

“Aw, hell.” Remus muttered.

“Uncle Remus?” Ares asked.

“Sorry, cub. What’s up?”

“Dis is for you.” Ares held up a small box. “An owl landed on da fence beside me and held it’s leg out. It has your name on it.” Ares suddenly looked worried. “Did I do da right, thing?”

Remus reached out and pulled the boy close, hugged him and gently dug his fingers into the boys hair, ruffling it and making his wavy curls even more unruly.

“You did, but next time, how about you let the owl sit on your shoulder and bring it to me. Sometimes we have to give the owl some money, not every time but sometimes.” He made sure to smile at the boy. “Now, what’s say we open this and find out what it is?”

Ares grinned and nodded. “Mars!” He yelled. “Mars! Unca Remus gots a present.”

Mars came running from inside the house.

“What is it, Unca Remus? What is it?”

“I don’t know yet. Let’s open it and find out.” Remus carefully placed the box on the patio table and waved his wand over it. “Well, no one’s put any spells on it. Hmm… Should I unwrap it?” Both boys nodded, grinning at their Uncle. “Alright.”

Remus smiled at them and used his wand to cut the string that held the brown paper wrapping in place. A plain potion packing box sat on the opened paper, Remus lifted the lid and saw a single phial. And inside that phial, the metallic blue/gold of a memory twisted and turned, waiting to be used.

“Huh… a memory.”

“A what?” Mars asked.

“A memory. Someone has sent me a memory.”

“What are you going to do with it?”

“Well… if we had a pensieve… I could watch it… I suppose.”

“Wha’s a pensif?” Ares asked.

“A pensieve is a large flat bowl, usually made from stone or silver and you pour a memory into it so you can watch it.”

“Like da bowl in da attic?” Ares asked.

Remus blinked a few times. “There’s a pensive in the attic?”

“I dunno, but dere’s a big bowl.”

“I think we’d best have a look at this bowl of yours, Ares. If someone sent me a memory, they obviously want me to watch it. Let’s go.”

The three tromped off towards the cottage, each pulling his shoes off at the door and headed inside. Ares and Mars lead the way, grinning and nudging each other, to see them smiling even for a few minutes, brought a smile to his own face. Up the stairs onto a landing and down to the far end of the, surprisingly long, hallway and another door, once opened this door revealed another set of stairs. Up the stairs and they were in a huge space.

“Well, we now know this was a Wizarding home.”

“How?” Mars asked.

“This room is much bigger than the outside of the cottage, Mars. That means that someone has used special runes and spells to create what most people call ‘Wizarding Space’. It very rare and very hard to do to a house.”

“Oh… okay.” Mars looked around with more interest that before.

“Now, Ares? Where this possible pensieve?”

“Over dere, Unca Remus.” Ares pointed behind Remus, towards a corner of the room.

Tucked into a corner, where the beams of the cottage met the walls, stood a tall, glass-fronted cabinet. In that cabinet, clearly visible on a crystal stand was a flat silver bowl. Remus went over and opened the cabinet, his fingers feeling clumsy on the delicate catches. He lifted out the pensieve, still on it’s stand, and placed it gently on a nearby desk.

“Okay.” He whispered, before taking a deep breath. “Ares, Mars? I’ll only be a few minutes. The Aurors said there’s nothing up here that dangerous to you, so you can look any anything you want. Alright?”

Remus fretted about leaving the boys unattended, but something was pushing him to watch the memories. Pushing him so hard, that if he hadn’t checked for compulsions, he might have wondered. As it stood, he felt that it was Lady Magic pushing him and he had no intention of refusing Her demands.

“Yes, Unca Remus.” Both boys grinned and Ares turned to a nearby bookcase, while Mars headed for a trunk.

Remus watched them for a moment, then he focused on the pensieve. He poured the blue and golden liquid into the bowl and waited for it to disperse all across the surface, before he lowered his face.

Across the room, Ares saw Remus vanish into the pensieve and he sighed.

“Well, no going back now, brother.” He warned.

“Don’t wanna go back.” Mars muttered. “Staying with you and him.”

Ares tossed a smile at Mars and grabbed a book at random.

 

Remus slid from the pensieve to the floor, gasping. He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Looking up he saw both Ares and Mars looking at him, standing side by side, both heads tilted slightly to the left.

“You… you… But… Har… pup… I…Siri...”

“Yep.” Ares nodded. “We were.”

“But we’re not anymore.” Mars added.

“Lady Hogwarts made sure of it.” Ares continued.

“And even Lady Magic, Herself, agreed.” Mars said.

“Did you know that Mars is going to be Lord Black?”

“Yep.” Ares grinned. “Sirius told me about that back in the summer before Harry’s fifthyear.”

“Oh, hell... that’s gonna be hard to get my head around.” Remus groaned.

“Think of it this way, Unca Moony. Gwen and Lady Magic are helping us prank **_everyone_**.” Mars grinned.

“Best prank ever." Ares agreed.

Remus nodded. “Okay, gimme a minute, here.” He muttered and began to pace in a circle. “So… you’ve dealt with V-Vol-Vol-”

“Just call him Tom, Unca Remus, we do.” Ares cut in.

“T-Tom? Tom? Right, Tom. You’ve dealt with Tom. You’ve got new identities. You’re new people.”

“We just have Harry Potter and Sirius’ Black’s memories.” Mars agreed.

“You’re just going to live your lives again?” Remus asked.

“We’re going to live the lives we weren’t allowed to live.” Ares corrected. “Harry Potter started life as a slave, moved on to being a weapon and ended his life as a figurehead given no respect from the thing he was representing.”

“And Sirius Black was an abused, unloved child, forced to be old before his time, he was driven to rebel against the very people that should have been his most ardent supporters. Then he was imprisoned for something he didn’t do, without even a chance to defend himself. The one person who knew beyond all doubt that he was innocent, sat back and let it all happen.”

“Dumbledore.” Remus snarled.

“Dumbledore.” Mars agreed.

“But you’re letting him get away with it.”

“Are we?” Ares gave an innocent grin.

“Aren’t you?”

“Not really. Think about it. He wants to build up to a war with Tom. Tom’s gone. With Tom’s Horcruxes destroyed, there's no chance of him coming back, there’s no chance of that war happening. Harry will be gone. No weapon. No need for a weapon. Dumbledore won’t have a broom to sit on.” Ares’ grin grew teeth and became vicious. Just a little vicious.

“Huh…” Remus grunted. “That’ll work.” The two now-brothers, began to laugh. “You do realise that because you’ve already been through Hogwarts, I’m going to expect that both of you get excellent marks? You do get that? Don’t you?”

Ares nodded while Mars groaned.

“But think of the pranks, Mars. The pranks. We don’t have to wait until fifthyear to become Animagi, we can do that anytime. We have the Marauder’s map and once Harry’s dead, Gringotts will do a recall on all Potter possessions, so we’ll get the Cloak. With Harry dead, all the Potter vaults will revert to me. And you’re Sirius Black’s heir, so with his death all his stuff comes to you. We'll have everything. James' trunks, Sirius’ notebooks, Lily’s Grimoire. Everything.” Ares babbled.

“You need to start your own Grimoire, Ares. Or at least a potions one. I hope you remember the recipe for that LycanFree. I want to dose Greyback.” Remus warned.

Mars tilted his head in thought. “We should… should get an expanded trunk.” He started. “And get some wizard-spaced-rooms like the attic. We could have lots of rooms. An office, a potions lab, an extra bathroom… you know what the Gryffindor dorms are like. We'll need somewhere private, somewher to plan our pranks.”

“Hmm…” Remus hummed. “That’s not a bad idea, cub. We’ve got the finances, we can do that. Start working on a requirement list. And in the meantime? Amos Diggory invited over for dinner tonight. Wanna go?”

“Aw, do we have-” Mars started, but Ares overrode him.

“Yes. I wanna see Cedric. The Rat killed him on Tom’s orders. I need to see him.”

“Ares’ got a boyfriend.” Mars sang.

Ares frowned and his eye narrowed. “You really wanna go there, Mars?”

Mars stopped, blinked and thought about it for a few seconds. “Ah… no. I’m good. Sorry.” He hurriedly hugged his younger brother, apologising for teasing.

“Okay boys that’s enough. Let’s head for town. We need something from the bakers to take for dinner and some bread for breakfast.” Remus ruffled their hair and pointed them in the direction of the stairs.

“Don’t need to go to the bakers, I can make a Crazyberry and apple tart.” Ares pouted.

“And how do you plan to get the fact that, you are seven years old and baking, passed Mrs Diggory? Huh?” Remus asked.

“Mama. We say it was something we did together. Made tarts and pies. I’ve got a few recipes.” Ares assured him.

“Ares, Rommy lived in a muggle town, how is she supposed to get crazyberries?” Remus asked.

“Unca Remus… She lived in Islington. Her flat was less than a ten minute walk from Grimmauld Place. That’s only a few blocks from King’s Cross. Platform 9¾ has a floo. Or she could walk, it’s only a half hour stroll to Diagon Alley.” Ares huffed.

“Hmm… No, not today, but we can set it up, say something about me having to buy whatever it is, because we don’t have a fully stocked kitchen, yet.”

“Oh, alright.” Ares pouted.

 

**Friday, 10 th of August 1985**

Molly Weasley trotted down the Burrow's drive and onto Two Track Lane, she was headed for the village, she needed some ground ginger and cinnamon or Ginny’s birthday was going to be cake-less. As she reached Stoatshead Hill Road, she saw that Sorrell Cottage had recently been painted.

“Neighbours? Oh, I do hope they’re a Wizarding family.” She muttered and kept going.

On her way home with the much needed spices and a totally unexpected block of cheese, she passed the cottage, again. This time, a gap in the hedge allowed her to see two small boys running around chasing a ball. A quaffle, to be more precise. And both boys were trying to get it through hoops that had been lowered to compensate for no brooms.

“Oh, lovely.” Molly smiled. “I’ll make them a chocolate cake, just to welcome them.” She mused as she headed up her drive. “The boys are much the same size as Fred and George, I wonder if they’d like some playmates? I must remember to talk to Amos and Sarah about it.”

 

**Monday, 12 th of August 1985 **

Molly stood in the open gateway, looking into the garden that surrounded Sorrell Cottage, a basket of fruit in her hands. The hedges were rough and the lawns still looked unkempt, but she could see passed that, though. Each garden bed might look wild and untended, but the reality was that Molly could see very few weeds. Asphodel and fanged geraniums grew in a central bed, while Chinese Chomping Cabbages, daisies, dandelions, flamewort, sneezewort, lovage and peppermint were interspersed among the pansies, marigolds and peonies. In one corner of the garden, carefully shaded, she saw a number of small pots, one held a bonsai-ed Wiggentree, another a Dittany sapling, a third had a Rowan seedling, while a fourth contained a tired Niffler’s Fancy with it’s coppery leaves.

It was obvious that the shaded area was a herbology infirmary, as all the plants there showed signs of old damage or neglect that was only recently being corrected.

Someone cared about this garden.

She closed the gate behind her, with a bit of a clank, loud enough to draw attention from anyone that might be outside the house. And sure enough, the sound of running feet was heard. Two sets, if Molly’s experience at rearing children was anything to judge by.

Bare seconds later, two boys with masses of wavy, dark-chocolate curls peeked around the corner of the house. They looked at Molly, one curiously, the other with wariness. Moments after Molly spotted the boys, a third person appeared, he was tall with light brown hair and pale blue eyes.

And he was familiar, but Molly couldn’t place where she knew him from.

“Hello.” She said. “I thought I’d welcome you to the area.”

“Well, thank you kindly, Miss Prewett.” The man said.

“Oh… have we met?”

“You’re Gideon and Fabian’s sister, right?”

“She’s Mr Gibbian’s sister?” One of the boys asked.

“Oh, my… I haven’t heard that name for years. Gibbian. You’re… you’re James Potter’s friend, aren’t you? Weren’t there two more? I remember Giddy saying something about the four of you…?” The last came out more as a question than a statement.

“Uh, yes… We were the only four Gryffindor boys in our year.” Remus answered. “James, Peter Pettigrew, Sirius Black and myself.”

“Oh, yes, now I remember. Terribly good at pranks, Fab said.” She glanced at the boys. “These are your sons?”

“Oh, I’m sorry, Miss Prewett. How rude of me. Introductions.” Remus shook his head. “I am Remus Lupin and these are my nephews, Mars and Ares. Boys, this is Miss Prewett, as you said, she is Mr Gibbian’s sister.”

“Molly Weasley, these days Mr Lupin. I married Arthur Weasley.”

“Really? Oh, well done, he’s a good man. Sirius consulted with him, when he was working on his bike, something about how to place charms so to not interfere with the muggle mechanics? I tuned out after the third hour.”

Molly beamed and shook her head fondly. “That sounds like my Arthur. He can prattle on about muggles and their things for hours on end.”

“Unca Remus?” One of the boys asked.

“Yes, Ares?”

“What happened to Daddy’s bike? Will we get it?”

Molly blinked. Daddy?

“Once the Ministry finish their investigation, they’ll send Gringotts a letter to release his Will. When it’s read, we’ll find out what happened to the bike.”

“Oh… okay. Can we have a biscuit?”

“Oh, yes, right... of course you can. Mrs Weasley? Can to join us for morning tea?” Remus gestured towards the back of the cottage. “We have freshly made ginger shortbread and a Blackcurrant cheesecake.”

“Ooh, that’s a tempting offer. Wherever did you find a Blackcurrant cheesecake?”

“Ah…” Remus hesitated. “You boys run ahead, get Maisy to make a fresh pot of tea.”

“Okay Unca Remus.” Ares grinned and grabbed his brother's hand, dragging the other boy after him.

“Mr Lupin? Was it something I said?”

“Kind of. I try not… My sister… died last month.” He heaved a sigh. “Rommy baked with the boys. It’s their way of remembering, of grieving, of coping. I stay with them, of course, but it’s their kitchen.” Remus whispered.

Molly reached out a hand laid it on his arm. “How are you coping?”

“I’m… I’m… not sure. I… It’s been eight years since I saw Rommy last. And then I was yelling at her for trying to potion one of my friends. She tried to give James a lust potion, just a week before we started seventhyear. Those boys? They’re Sirius’ sons. My sister was potioning my friends. She’d already got Sirius at least once.”

“But that’s… that’s…”

“Line Theft. Yes, it is. And if she was still alive?” He snarled. “I’d hand her over myself. No one, but no one, threatens my pack.”

Molly blinked. “Pack?”

“They thought I was a werewolf - I’m not, don’t panic. But James and Sirius thought I was. They spent three years figuring out how to become Animagi, just so I wouldn’t have to spend my full moons alone. Family, blood… yeah, it’s important. But sometimes, just sometimes… the family you choose is more important. They chose me, I chose them and Rommy chose Line Theft.”

“I see. And those boys are your pack?”

“They are. They’re Sirius’ sons. My chosen brothers are dead and those two boys are all I have left of them. Those boys are my pack, but they are also my blood. No matter how you look at it… They’re mine.”

 _And god help anyone who tries to take them off you_. Molly thought. “I see.” Was what she said.

Molly didn’t get to say anything more, as the two rounded the corner of the cottage and saw the boys standing beside a round table, on a paved patio.

“Maisy’ll bring tea when it's ready, Unca Remus.” One boy said.

“Can we take our biscuits and sit in the trees, Unca Remus?” The other asked.

“You can take three biscuits or one slice of cheesecake, each. And you have to take a bottle of water.” Remus directed.

“Yes, Unca Remus.” Both answered.

Quickly one boy grabbed two metal drink bottles out of a basket, while the other placed three biscuits in each of two small woven baskets. With a last grin the boys dashed off across the yard heading for an oak and a ladder hanging from it.

“Now, about that tea?” Remus asked.

“Yes. Tea sounds lovely.” Molly smiled. "I brought some fruit as a welcoming gift." She held up the basket.

 

A few hours later, long after the Weasley matriarch had left, Remus relaxed in the living room with the boys. He and Ares were reading books, while Mars sketched on a pad, all three well stuffed from a late lunch.

A soft chime rang, indicating an incoming floo call. Remus stood, stretched and padded over to the fireplace to toss a pinch of floo-powder into the flames, to accept the call.

“Remus? Remus, are you there? It’s Molly, dear.”

“Molly? Good afternoon. What can we do for you?”

“We’ve a… slight problem, Remus and… Oh, I’m loath to impose, but I desperately need a babysitter.”

“For whom? And why?” Remus frowned.

“Arthur took our boys to Diagon Alley, Billy and Charlie needed to get their school things, but there was a… there was an incident. I can’t say more, the DMLE won’t allow it, just yet, but… Not all of the boys were in the shop when… it happened. The want to interview Billy and Percy, but don’t need to speak to Charlie or the twins and Ronnie’s too young. Arthur called and I went and collected them, now Ronnie’s running a temp and Pandora’s called to say Ginny doing the same. She said that St Mungo's warned her, it sounded like Mumblemumps. Please… please say you’ll watch Charlie and the twins, just for a few hours while I get Ronnie and Ginny checked by St Mungo's. Please?” Molly begged.

“Of course, Molly. Send them along. And…? Tell Charlie to bring his text books, if Binns is still teaching, he’ll need all the help he can get.”

“Oh, thank you, Remus, thank you. And consider yourself warned, once Billy finds out you helped Charlie, he’ll be knocking on your door, with his books.”

“Sure, tell him to bring his DADA books, too. I can help there, if he likes.”

“Remus, you are a saint.” Molly sighed. “I’ll send Charlie through first, then the twins. Thank you, oh, thank you.” Molly’s head left the flames and Remus stepped away from the fireplace.

“Heads up boys, Weasley’s incoming.” He said, causing Ares to snicker.

Half an hour later and the fireplace chimed again.

“I’ll see to that, you keep on eye on the boys, please, Charlie.” Remus left the twelve year old with his books and the four seven years, as they played a version of broomless quidditch.

Another pinch of floo-powder and another face appeared in the flames.

“Remus! Oh, there you are. Remus, a favour, please? Sarah’s come down with Mumblemumps, St Mungo's say she’s just about to enter the contagious stage. They’ve checked me and Ced, we’re both clear, but Ced’s sensitive to the Boom berries used in the Wiggenweld potion, they’re recommending that I farm him out for a few days and Molly says that two of hers are down with Mumblemumps, too.”

“Yes, it seems Ronald and Ginevra have it. Bill and Percy are still with Arthur, at the Ministry and I have the rest of the boys.”

“Oh, dear. I don’t suppose… you’d consider having another… would you?”

“Of course, Amos… But if it’s going to be more than just a few days, I’d suggest you get Gringotts to write up a Crisis Housing contract. And you might want to suggest it to Molly and Arthur, too.”

“That does sound like a good idea, just in case of emergencies. Ced’s packed and ready to go, if he’s forgotten anything just floo. St Mungo's put a decontamination charm on our floo and you might want to think about the same, just to be safe.”

“I’ll do that, Amos. Send him along.”

A count of ten and a sandy haired boy stepped out of the flames, his face uncertain and worried.

“Hello Cedric.”

“Hello… Mr Lupin.” There was the barest hint of a paused between ‘hello’ and ‘Mr Lupin’ and Remus only just caught it.

“All the boys are out the back, both lots of twins are playing with a ball with a quaffle. Why don’t you drop your bag there an go join them?”

Cedric gave him a grateful smile and did just that. Leaving Remus to wonder jus how many boys he was going to end up with and for how long?

 

**Tuesday, 13 th of August 1985**

Remus looked at the front page of the Daily Prophet.

**PETER PETTIGREW ALIVE!**

**Fakes Death and Hides as Pet Rat.**

**SIRIUS BLACK INNOCENT?!**

**Under veritaserum, Pettigrew admits to being Potters' Secret Keeper.**

Remus laid the paper down a shook his head, he turned to watch the six boys as they played some form of quidditch and wondered to himself. _Who’s idea was this?_  It was very Sirius thinking to want revenge, but it was a very James-like idea to make it public. _Was it Ares or Mars that came up with this?_

 

**Saturday, 1 st of September 1985**

Remus studied the papers in front of him. Guardianship papers. He was now the permanent foster-guardian of Fred and George Weasley, as well as being the Crisis guardian to Cedric Diggory, Bill, Charlie and Percy Weasley. Eight.

He, Remus J Lupin had, for all intents and purposes, eight sons.

James would be laughing his ass off… And Lily wouldn’t be much better.

 

**Saturday, 7 th of September 1985**

The Prophet Headlines screamed

**_HARRY POTTER DEAD!_ **

**_Found comatose in Muggle hospital._ **

_Muggle healers state he was found badly beaten._

The article went to outline the muggle healer’s report on Harry Potter, from his being found dumped in a park to the severity of his injuries. It included St Mungo's assessment of his condition and went on with his death within minutes of a St Mungo's healer spotting the boy. A comment was made that the muggle healers worked diligently to try and restart his heart, but his injuries were too severe, even magic would have made little to no difference.

A memorial would organised for the Halloween anniversary for Harry, James and Lily Potter. With Harry’s death, the Wizengamot were authorising Gringotts to see to the dispersal of the Potter Estate to those named in James and Lily’s Wills or if no Wills were found, then the Wills of Fleamont and Euphemia Potter would be read.

Remus mused that it was unlikely that James and Lily’s Wills would be read. Both had clearly stated, that in the case of their deaths, Harry was to never go to Petunia. Something that Dumbledore clearly disregarded. It was far more likely that Fleamont and Euphemia’s Wills would be used. It would be interesting to see how that would play out.

 

**Tuesday, 8 th of October 1985**

Remus and Molly were having tea on the patio, it was rare that Molly left Ronald and Ginevra since they’d became ill, and the healers had ordered her to have time away, as a stress release. Remus wasn’t sure it was working, but for three weeks now, she’d been joining him for tea, three days a week, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

The boys had settled in and were adapting well. There’d been some hiccups at first and it had taken some shuffling. Sending Percy to Septimus and Cedrella Weasley, had solved most of the issues. Four pranksters had just been too much for the academically inclined, middle Weasley child. To the point of it effecting his health, leading to an offer from his grandparents to foster him. Within days, his health improved and after a week of being able to sleep safely, he was back to his usual industrious self. But three mornings a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, he came to Sorrell Cottage for lessons, four hours a day. It was enough to keep contact with his brothers, but not enough to cement the gap between them.

Right now, both sets of twins were sunning themselves near a Whomping Willow seedling that had taken a fancy to them. The semi-sentient plant had started to pick up it’s pot, with some of it’s smaller branches, while using it’s larger ones to ‘walk’ itself across the garden, from wherever Remus put it, to wherever the boys were. Today, that was the north-western corner, with it’s paved area that caught the autumn sun.

 

The boys were discussing Halloween and All Hallow’s Eve and the differences between them. Once of the things mentioned was the way muggles decorated their homes and yards.

Fred and George were all for making gravestones and crosses, then getting Remus to transfigure some sticks to look like bones and have them sticking up near the stones. But Cedric wanted to go with ghosts.

“I don’t like cemeteries.” He said.

“But Ced…” Fred whined.

“… they’re cool.” George finished.

“They’re not. They’re horrible.”

“Aw come on, Ced. Why do hate ‘em so much?” Mars moaned.

“Because I died in one!” Cedric snarled.

The five boys froze.

“I wasn’t expecting that.” Ares said.

“What?” Cedric exclaimed. “I get nightmares about cemeteries.”

“Is it really the cemetery or dying?” Ares asked.

“Same thing.” Cedric muttered.

Ares turned to Mars. “You know, sometimes, I think we should have kept Wormtail, just for a bit longer.”

“Wormtail?” Fred and George asked together.

“Do you know…”

“Something we don’t?” Fred started and George finished.

Ares and Mars studied the three boys, before sighing.

“I don’t think we have much choice, Ares, we have to try.” Mars told his brother.

“Try what?” Cedric asked.

Ares huffed.

He pointed at Cedric with a skinny finger. “24th of June 1995, Little Hangleton Cemetery, AK’d by Peter Pettigrew.” He said.

Cedric, Fred and George looked at him with suddenly wide eyes.

He pointed at Mars. “18th of June 1996, Department of Mysteries, The Veil via Bellatrix Lestrange.”

He pointed at Fred. “2nd of May, Seventh floor, Hogwarts Castle keep, a Heart-Stopper curse by Laureline Flint.”

He pointed to George. “You, I don’t know. Me, I don’t know. I suspect, I was something to do with the Veil, but…?”

“You were…” George paused.

“Anything to do with why you won’t have anything to do with Ron?” Fred asked his twin.

“Yeah…” George hesitated. “I overheard Ginny and Ron. Ron had got Hermione to make Ginny a spell. It blocked all sensory inputs, she claimed it was for quidditch, to let her meditate and focus completely, to block out everything bar the game. It was a time release spell and I heard Ron telling Ginny that he’d planted it exactly where she’d told him and it’d worked perfectly, but that you’d stumbled and gone into the Veil. Ginny ranted about, 'if you’d gone into the Veil, they wouldn’t be able to use the spell to force you under the Imperius to alter your Will to give them everything and how Ron had fluffed up big time'.”

“Fluffed up?” Fred laughed.

“Oh, can it, Mr giggles. You try swearing, I’ll betcha a week’s dishes, Remus’ll hear ya.” George grumbled.

“Point.” Fred sobered.

“So… that’s Harry. What about you?”

“Ginny heard me. I dunno, I must have made a noise. She turned and stunned me. I woke tied to a chair. The two of them were still arguing and I’d almost got out of their ropes when they started duelling. Ginny threw a bat-bogie at Ron and he tossed a  _[diffindo](cutting%20curse)_ back, he missed but got my arm. It kept going like that, she hit him, he’d miss, but he’d hit me as often as not. Finally he lost his temper and he threw a curse, I’d never heard of it before. ‘Semptum…something-or-other. He missed Ginny, again and got me, again. This time in the leg, it was bad, I could see my own blood, almost gushing. But they kept going. Everything faded away and I heard a rushing noise, then it all went black. After that?” He shook his head. “I woke up in the bath-tub with Fred, both of us freaked out, started crying and screaming…”

“…Mum thought we were drowning, we ended up telling her we’d fallen asleep and had nightmares.” Fred added.

“I woke up after the cemetery, I was back in my bed and I could hear Ma talking to dad, but… Ma… Ma died before I went to Hogwarts.” Cedric whispered.

“Me? I woke up in Azkaban again, right ticked off I was. Wasted no time in getting out of there, just dragged meself up onto the beach and sent a patronus to Prongslet, I planned on going to fetch him. Then he sent one back telling me to go to the Shack.” Mars grins.

“I woke in my cupboard again. Took me just a few minutes to throw a delay in the wards and swap em over to Dudley, then I grabbed everything about Harry, James or Lily Potter.’ He pauses. “Plus I raided Vernon and Petunia’s cash stash.” He shrugged at their questioning expressions. “It comes from my vault, so I figured it was mine, it wasn't like they were gonna spend it on me, so I took it for myself. Then I got the hell out of there. Straight to the Shack to meet Padfoot.”

The four boys looked at Ares, their eyes begging for the rest of the story.

He sighed and explained it all to them, when he finished, he sat back.

“Now what?” Cedric asked.

Ares and Mars shared a mischievous look and grinned.

Up on the patio, Remus groaned.

“Remus? Something wrong?” Molly asked.

“Look at them. Ares and Mars are planning something. Something big.”

“Oh dear.”

Ares looks at Fred, George and then Cedric.

“Wanna play the 'Prank Of All Pranks'?” he asks

“On who?” Cedric wanted to know.

“Everyone. Cedric, you’re six months older than us, but you’re still gonna be in our year, right?”

“Yeah…?” Came the hesitant reply, he wasn’t sure he wanted to be involved in this.

“Fred George, your mum wants you to go into the ministry, right?”

“Yeah.” Neither seemed too happy about it.

“Let’s shock everyone. The five of us get sorted into the one house, Slytherin maybe. Make it clear, right from now, that we’re going to take the Wizarding world by storm. Ced? How’d you like to be Minister for Magic?”

Cedric’s brow rise and he gapes at Ares. “Me? Why me?”

“Mars and me? We’re Blacks, our father is Sirius black, traitor to the Blacks and we’re being raised by his best friend. The Light faction won’t follow us because we’re Blacks and the Dark faction won’t because of the traitor thing. And the Weasley’s are seen as being Light and Dumbledore-followers, so the Dark won’t follow them. If we’re sorted into Slytherin the Lights won’t either. But you? Amos Diggory is renowned for neutrality, no matter what the house.”

“Gred, Forge, between the two of you, I’m sure that you can take on the Head of Commerce and Head of Finance. Can’t you?” Mars adds with a challenging grin.

The redheaded twins blinked in answer and grinned, nodding. “We can do that.”

“What about you two? What’re you going to do?” Cedric asked.

“Ares will be the head of DMLE and I’ll be Chief Warlock.” Mars answers smugly.

The five looked at each other and, as one, burst out laughing.

Remus and Molly look at them.

“Too late now.” Remus whined.

“Oh, don’t worry, dear. Their plans never last long.” More consoled him.

“That’s where you’re wrong, Molly. Look at Ares and Mars. That expression? That’s the look James wore on our second day at Hogwarts, the day he decided that he was going to marry Lily Evans. It’s the look Sirius wore when he decided to make a flying motorbike. It’s the look all of us wore when we decided to make an interactive, self-updating, identity-registering map of Hogwarts. It's locked in a trunk in my bedroom.” He moaned.

“Oh, dear… and you think…?”

“Whatever they’re planning… it’s going to take years. But with five of them? I don’t doubt for a single second, that they’ll succeed.”

Molly grimaced. “That does not inspire confidence, Remus.”

“It wasn’t supposed to. It was a warning. Whatever it is… No one’s going to see it coming.”

“Hmm...”

The five boys come running up to the patio and the two adults.

“Guess what Unca Remus, guess what we’re gonna do?” Ares chirped, smiling brightly.

“I don’t want to know.” Remus moaned.

“Yeah, ya do.” Mars grinned at his despondent Uncle.

“Alright, what have you lot got planned?” Molly demanded, frowning, her twins had a new look in their eyes, one that she wasn't familiar with.

“We’re gonna take over the ministry.” Ced laughed at the look of dismay on Remus’ face.

“You’re going to _**what?**_ ” Molly spluttered, spilling her tea.

“Ced’s gonna be Minister.” Ares

“Ares is gonna be head of the DMLE.” Mars

“Fred is gonna be Head of Commerce.” Says Cedric, a beaming smile on his face.

“George is gonna be Head of Finance.” Fred added.

“And Mars is gonna be Chief Warlock.” Ares smirked, smugly anticipating the reactions.

Remus chokes on air, spluttering and coughing over nothing.

Molly just sighed. _Oh dear_. She thought. _Remus was right. I didn’t see that coming_.

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Monday, 5 th of August 1985**

The Daily Prophet’s headlines said it all.

**SIRIUS BLACK DEAD!**

 

Albus Dumbledore looked at the paper in surprise.  He hadn’t expected that.

This would make it so much easier to mould Harry Potter, into the weapon he needed the boy to be. But it was a pity, Sirius could have been useful in derailing any acts of rebellion.

Oh, well… it was too late to cry over spilt pumpkin juice.

 

**Tuesday, 13 th of August 1985**

The Daily Prophet's Headlines dominated the page.

**PETER PETTIGREW ALIVE!**

**Fakes Death and Hides as Pet Rat.**

**SIRIUS BLACK INNOCENT?!**

**Pettigrew admits to being Secret Keeper under veritaserum.**

 

Dumbledore gaped at the headline. He would have to push for Pettigrew being unstable, he couldn’t have it come out that he’d cast the Fidelius that protected the Potters. That would destabilise his support-base. It just wouldn’t do. Not with a war coming.

But… the up side to it was, he could use it to influence Harry to go in the direction he needed, point him to justice for his family, for his Godfather. Yes… he could use this.

 

 

**Saturday 7 th of September 1985**

The Prophet Headlines screamed

**_HARRY POTTER DEAD!_ **

**_Found comatose in Muggle hospital._ **

_Muggle healers state he was found badly beaten._

The article went to outline the muggle healer’s report on Harry Potter, from his being found dumped in a park, to the severity of his injuries. It included St Mungo's assessment of his condition and went on with his death within minutes of a St Mungo's healer spotting the boy. A comment was made that the muggle healers worked diligently to try and restart his heart, but his injuries were to severe, even magic would have made little to no difference to his survival.

A memorial would organised for the Halloween anniversary for Harry, James and Lily Potter. With Harry’s death, the Wizengamot were authorising Gringotts to see to the dispersal of the Potter Estate to those named in James and Lily’s Wills or if no Wills were found, then those of Fleamont and Euphemia Potter would be read.

Dumbledore let his head fall into his hands.

This could not be happening. It couldn’t. He needed Potter, without him, the war would collapse and Voldemort would gain control.

As Dumbledore bemoaned the fate of the Wizarding world, a bell rang in his office. One he’d not heard before. He hurried from his personal quarters to the office.

On his desk a tray had appeared. It was covered with a large, clear glass cloche and under that cloche were a number of smaller silver-cloche covered plates, each with a small envelope resting against them. And in front of them, a larger envelope with the name 'TM Riddle' elegantly written on it. Albus waved his wave over the glass cloche and when nothing registered, he lifted the clear dome. Another wave and with still no magic or potions registering, he pick out an envelope at random, planning on leaving the Riddle envelope until last. Lifting it, he opened the crisp white parchment.

 

Inside was a single piece of parchment, folded in half, unfolding that he found a picture of a lovely piece of jewellery that, for some reason, was vaguely familiar and below that a description.

**Rowena Ravenclaw’s Diadem**

_Contained the Horcruxe of Tom Marvolo Riddle, equal to 3.125% of original soul._

_Created with the murder of Albanian muggle Bujar Prifti on 2 nd of June 1948_

_Horcruxe destroyed on 31 st of July 1985 by order of Lady Magic_

_Item to remain on permanent display in Hogwarts’ Great Hall._

“Ah…” Dumbledore gasped and quickly reached for another envelope.

 

The picture of a golden goblet and he began to read the description.

**Helga Hufflepuff’s Badger Cup**

_Contained the Horcruxe of Tom Marvolo Riddle, equal to 6.25% of original soul._

_Created with the murder of Hepzibar Smith on 22 nd of November 1946_

_Horcruxe destroyed on _31 st of July _1985 by order of Lady Magic_

_Item to be returned to Head of Hepzibar Smith’s family, Lord Marcus Smith by 20 th of September 1985._

 

“Oh, Merlin.” He reached for a third envelope.

 

**Diary of Tom Marvolo Riddle**

_Contained the Horcruxe of Tom Marvolo Riddle, equal to 50% of original soul._

_Created with the murder of Myrtle Anne Warren on 13 th of June 1943_

_Horcruxe destroyed on _31 st of July _1985 by order of Lady Magic_

_Item to be presented to Ms Warren’s brother, Mr Andrew James Warren by 20 th of September 1985._

 

Another envelope.

 

**Faux Scar from Harrison James Potter**

_Contained the Horcruxe of Tom Marvolo Riddle, equal to 1.56% of original soul._

_Created with the murder of Lilian Jane Potter nee Evans on 31 st of October 1981_

_Horcruxe destroyed on _31 st of July _1985 by order of Lady Magic_

_Item to be destroyed by 20 th of September 1985._

 

“Harry…” Dumbledore whispered, not knowing what to think. Regardless, he picked up another envelope.

 

**Peverell Family Signet ring (stone destroyed in cleansing)**

_Contained the Horcruxe of Tom Marvolo Riddle, equal to 25% of original soul._

_Created with the murder of Tom Riddle Snr on 14 th of August 1943_

_Horcruxe destroyed on _31 st of July 1985_ by order of Lady Magic_

_Item to be returned to last living descendants, via Potter Estate, by 20 th of September 1985._

 

He sighed and reached out, his eyes flicking backwards and forwards between the last cloche and the Riddle envelope, but with another sigh, he chose the cloche envelope.

 

**Salazar Slytherin’s Serpent Locket**

_Contained the Horcruxe of Tom Marvolo Riddle, equal to 12.5% of original soul._

_Created with the murder of muggle Jonas Roberts on 22 nd of December 1948_

_Horcruxe destroyed on _31 st of July_ 1985 by order of Lady Magic_

_Item to remain on permanent display in Hogwarts’ Great Hall._

 

It was with a trembling hand that he opened the last envelope.

 

**Tom Marvolo Riddle’s Wraith**

_Contained the Horcruxe of Tom Marvolo Riddle, equal to 1.56% of original soul._

_Created with the failed murder of Harry Potter on 31 _ _st__  of October 1981_

_Wraith dissipated on 4 th  _ _of S__ eptember 1985, witnessed by Lady Magic_

 

Albus Dumbledore studied each item, before casting a complex charm over the items. Slowly a list of words began to appear in the air above each of them. One by one Dumbledore read the lists, his heart both lightening and sinking, for different reasons, further with each list. Finally he waved his wand and covered each item with their corresponding cloche and each envelope slid into place in front of them.

“Tom’s gone.” He whispered. “Sirius’ gone…” He fell back into his elaborate throne-like chair. “Harry’s gone…” A single teat fell on his cheek. “What have I done?” He buried his face in his hands and sobbed. “So many lives lost. So many deaths… And I was going to let more happen. Oh, what have I done? What have I become?”

A chime sounded, indicating that someone was requesting to speak to him. With this being on the first week of the new school year, it was unlikely that there were any major concerns to be brought to him. He flicked his wand at the office’s guardian and waited while the guardian granted whoever it was entrance.

Minerva hurried up the stairs.

“Albus, is it true?” She asked.

 

**Saturday, 12 th of October 1985**

In the dungeons of Hogwarts, Severus Snape saw the paper he'd discarded from weeks before and sighed. He’d made a promise to his best friend and he’d failed to keep it. Her son was dead. At the hand of muggles or magicals wasn’t clear, but the child was still dead. That his DarkMark had first stung then bled the ink from his arm, supported the Headmaster’s suggestion that whatever was responsible for the destruction of the Dark Lord’s Horcruxes, had got them all, including, it seemed, Harry Potter.

He let the student essay in his hands fall and he slumped back in his chair, the letter from a year-mate catching his eye. He huffed another sigh and reached for the letter that had been sitting on his desk for almost a week. He needed a break from badly written essays on the ingredients and uses of the Wiggenweld Potion.

Why was Remus Lupin writing to him?

 

 ** _‘Potions Master Severus Snape’_** _,_  the outside read. He unfolded the parchment and began to read.

_Snape,_

_I image that you’re trying to figure out why I would write to you._

_Last month I inherited my nephews, my sister’s twin sons. They’re seven years old and while my sister was a squib, she did what she could to introduce the boys to magic. Now it falls to me to prepare them for the positions that they will one day inherit. Their father and godfather are dead and the boys will inherit their titles, as Lords to Ancient and Noble Houses, when they reach their majority._

_Both will need to know what I cannot teach them, not without assistance, anyway. I’ve begun contacting various people that can, if they choose to, provide advice or tutoring on subjects the boys need to become proficient in._

_One of those is, of course, potions. While I cannot expect you to walk away from the prestigious position you currently hold, I am hopeful that you may offer advice on a curriculum of study, or suggest a tutor._

_Please, consider what it would be like to have students who are enthusiastic about potions in your class. Mars and Ares smart, eager and looking forward to being allowed to actually brew something. My skills in the lab are average, I can only give them the bare beginnings and as such am not prepared to go past theory and attempt to teach what I am not confident with._

_If you wish to discuss the matter in person, our floo-address is ‘Sorrell Cottage Garden’._

_We look forward to hearing from you._

_Remus Lupin._

 

An hour later, after a quiet meeting with professors McGonagall and Flitwick, who were handling more and more of the school’s business, Snape left Hogwarts, walking down long drive towards Hogsmeade. At the station he paced back and forth for a good ten minutes. Voluntarily visiting the home of one of his school tormentors, was daunting and while he fully intended to follow through, he did require time to figuratively, 'gird his loins'. Or maybe, he should spell his robes to stay in place, just in case the wolf had been teaching his nephews what his friends called ‘The Fine Art of Pranking’.

Another deep breath and Snape tossed a handful of floo-powder into the empty fireplace.

“Sorrell Cottage Garden.” He announced clearly.

Green flames surrounded him and spots of light flew past him, but he waited until the rushing lights drew to a halt and stepped forward, away from the flames. He emerged into a small hallway-type space and within seconds a neat little house-elf appeared.

“I am Potions Master Snape. Remus Lupin contacted me, in regards to his nephews.” Snape said.

“I is being Maisy. Please being following and Maisy will take Master Snape to Uncle Remus.” The little elf curtsied and lead Snape through the house and out onto a large patio. At the nearer end of the patio sat a table, obviously set up as an office desk, given the writing set and tray of papers under a paperweight. The far end was a large circular space, where five boys sat on thick fabric-covered cushions, off to one side was a pot with a three foot tall willow sapling. From the way it’s branches were patting the hair and shoulders of whatever boys were in reach, Snape figured that it was a Whomping Willow sapling.

“Potions Master Snape to see Uncle Remus.” The elf curtsied again. “Wills Uncle Remus be wanting Maisy to be making tea for him and Potions Master Snape? Ares and Mars made ginger newt biscuits this morning.”

“That sounds lovely, Maisy, thank you.” Lupin said as he got to his feet. “Thank you for coming, Snape. I’ve had a difficult time, especially the last few days, stopping the boys from writing to you again. But I managed to convince them, you spend enough time reading things from students, that you probably wouldn’t appreciate more.” Lupin smiled apologetically.

“True, but reading something from someone that wanted to communicate with me, rather than it being something assigned, is quite different.” Snape answered. If Lupin wanted to be congenial, he was prepared to do the same, but at the first sign of animosity, he was leaving. Civility didin't go further than that.

Lupin shrugged and snorted. “I suppose it is.”

“It is.” Snape paused. “I was surprise to receive a letter from you and I’ll admit to some curiosity. I wasn’t aware that you had siblings.”

“Only Rommy, thank god.” Lupin almost snarled.

“Ah…” Snape blinked at the barely hidden animosity, tensing in preparation to stand.

“I apologise, I’m still struggling with Rommy’s actions. I will endeavour not to take it out on you.”

Snape nodded looked to change the subject, relaxing slightly.

“Your letter mentioned the boys are to inherit estates from their father and godfather? Might I be permitted to ask…?”

Lupin sighed. “Rommy was potioning my friends. The week before we started seventh year, I caught her in the process of giving a lust potion to James.”

Snape caught his breath, being caught using a lust potion on an Heir to an Ancient and Noble House, was an automatic Azkaban sentence.

“Yeah… I yelled, James yelled, Rommy ran away. I… That was the l saw her. In August, just gone, the Aurors contacted me, she was dead.” Lupin was almost expressionless as he spoke.

“I am sorry for your loss.”

“I can’t say I am, not really.” Lupin nodded towards the grouping of boys. “Two of those boys? The darker two? They’re proof that, when I caught Rommy attempting to dose James, it wasn’t the first time. Those two boys are Sirius’ sons.”

“Black?”

“Yeah.”

“And you’re certain it was a lust potion? Black was quite free with his… affections, at school.” Snape was hesitant to break the easy-going atmosphere, but it needed to be said.

“No, actually he wasn’t, it just looked that way. Only a few months before, he’d claimed himself a virgin and sworn an oath to back it up.”

“Really? I had heard that Christina Wittlaw claimed him as the father of her child?”

“Yeah, she even went to Orion and Walburga. That’s what prompted Sirius' running off to the Potters and the making of that oath. Christina was quite loud about it, for a while and then she suddenly disappeared, remember?”

“I do.” Snape answered. “Something about visiting relatives overseas, wasn’t it?”

“Don’t know, don’t care.” Lupin shrugged. "But the moment it was proven that her child wasn't Sirius', she was gone."

“And the boys? Can you be certain?”

“Yes, St Mungo's tested them and then a few days later, Gringotts did the same, even did a genetic family tree. They’re Sirius’ sons, his _only_  children, thank Merlin. Mars will inherit Arcturus’ title, while Ares…? Rommy must have had contact with James and Lily, or Fleamont and Euphemia.”

“What makes you think that?”

“Ares will become Lord Potter. Somehow, and as yet I am uncertain how, James and Lily blood adopted both boys. I'm hoping her diary may shed some light on the matter, but I haven't had a chance to read it, yet.” Lupin nodded to the elf as she returned with a teapot and a tray of biscuits and cleared a space on the desk.

“Shall Maisy give the Fiends biscuits, Uncle Remus?” The elf asked.

“Certainly. And bottles of water, too, please.”

“Yes, Uncle Remus.” The little elf curtsied and trotted away.

“Why would they do such a thing?” Snape continued the conversation.

“Ah… James… James was injured in fourth year, in that quidditch match against Hufflepuff, the one where the hoops at the western end of the pitch, collapsed.”

“I recall… he spent a week in St Mungo's, just after Easter.”

“That’s right. Well, that accident put the continuation of the Potter line in doubt. Right up until Lily announced she was pregnant, no one, including James, believed he _**could**_ father a child.”

“Hence, Black suggesting he blood adopting his friend’s children.”

“Not so sure about that. So far there’s no evidence that Sirius knew about the boys. Personally, I’d be more inclined to say that Fleamont was behind it, with backing by Lily and Euphemia.”

“Yes, that is more like something Lily would do.”

“Isn’t it just?” Lupin smiled a sad smile.

“Very well, that explains two of the boys. What of the rest?”

“I’m their Crisis guardian. Two Weasley boys and Amos Diggory’s son.”

“And you’re home-schooling them?” Snape was interested to know.

“At this point, yes. The redheads will eventually become the Lords Prewett, when Miss Muriel Prewett passes on and Cedric? There’s a plot that the five have concocted. They plan to have the five highest positions in the Wizarding world, by the time they are thirty.”

“Oh…?”

“Cedric is to be Minister, Fred and George swap from week to week, but they will be the seats for Finance and Commerce. Ares will take the DMLE and Mars will be Chief Warlock.”

“Ambitious.” Snape raised an eyebrow.

“That they are.” Remus grinned, at a memory. “Remember that look James and Sirius got? The one that said, ‘I’m going to do this’, and then they went on and did it?” He waited for Snape to nod. “Well, all five wore it.”

“I see.”

“Yeah…”

“Slytherin or Gryffindor?” Snape asked, curiously. Were there any other options, given their plans?

“Not sure. Could go either way. Yes, they’re cunning and ambitious, sneaky and not a little underhanded, when it comes to getting their way. But… they’re also reckless, brave, foolhardy at times and have absolutely no sense of fear or mortality. And it will depend on Mars and Ares, as to where the other three are sorted.”

“Why?”

“Healer Tansy explained that as the boys were conceived under the influence of a lust potion, they tend to be much more protective of the people they emotionally connect with, if it’s a positive connection, anyway. If it’s a negative connection…? Tansy implied that the best we can hope for, is that they control the animosity.”

“And what does that have to do with the other boys?”

“Mars and Ares have decided that Fred, George and Cedric will be their brothers. And like I said, they’re sneaky, underhanded with no sense of mortality. Don’t ask me how, I no idea, but somehow, they believe that they can blackmail the Sorting Hat into putting the four of them in one house.”

“That’s… I think that’s more ambitious than taking over the Ministry.” Snape mused.

“Yeah… So either McGonagall or whoever’s Slytherin's Head, will have a handful and a half.”

“That would be myself.” Snape paused. “I saw brooms in the utility room as I came through… Did they inherit their father’s mediocrity on a broom?”

“Oh, no… they take after their uncles. All of them. Mars is a fair flyer, but still better than Sirius, and Ares flies better than Regulus ever did, better than James, too, I think. Fred and George, as beaters would put their Prewett uncles to shame and Cedric is as good a chaser as his great-uncle, Laurence Filton, ever was.”

“So, if they go to Gryffindor, I can expect to not see the House Cup in Slytherin, until they graduate?”

“Exactly.”

“Hmm… I shall have to weigh the merits of having the Cup against having a quintet of Gryffindors in my house.”

“Ares coined the name Slythindors, if that helps.” Lupin chuckled.

“No. It does not. I believe that is enough pleasantries to placate societal courtesies. A potions curriculum, you said? For all five or just your nephews?”

“All five… plus the next eldest Weasley boy, Percy. Percy is quite advanced for his age, they all are.” Lupin assured him. “And all are looking forward learning, they’ve all promised to pay attention and do their best.”

“Do you have a lab?”

“We do, but I’d prefer you, or whomever you recommend, to set it up their preferred way. Furnish to their requirements. As Father and Crisis-Regent, I will of course fund the lab, setup and ingredients, as well pay tutorial fees.”

Snape studied Lupin, the boy had grown up and grown up into a reasonable human being. Who would have thought it? But one concern dominated his mind.

“And what of your condition?”

“My condition? What condition?”

“Your… full moon issue.” Snape wasn’t going to say it.

“Oh, gods, please tell me you’re not another one of those that Dumbledore convinced I was a werewolf, are you?”

“You’re not?”

“Most assuredly not. When Rommy died… there was quite a furore about it, but it wasn’t the first time that St Mungo's cleared me of the disease. When I was first attacked, my parents took me there, they were worried. But St Mungo's, examined me and my wounds and after staying in the hospital for a full moon and not changing, they cleared me. Same happened when I wanted custody of the boys.”

“Why would the Headmaster say otherwise?”

“Really? I think it was just a miscommunication. When he brought my Hogwarts acceptance, Rommy was furious, mostly because she didn’t get one. Father was trying to deal with her and the Headmaster, at the same time. All he really said to Dumbledore was something along the lines of… I’d been attacked and had lunar sensitivity as a result. Then he went on to list my dietary requirements and… Well, basically, I think they just got their owls crossed.”

“I see…” Snape drawled. “Who are you speaking to and for what subjects?”

“Oh, let me see.” Lupin shuffled papers around until he found the list he was obviously looking for. “I can cover Astronomy, Ancient Runes, History of Magic, DADA, Magical Theory and Transfiguration. I have NEWT O+’s in all of them. Wilhelmina Grubbly-Plank will come in for Care and Herbology. Andromeda Tonks will be giving them lessons on etiquette, social and business, as well as Wizengamot Protocols and Black Family History. Yourself, or your recommendation, for Potions. And I still need to find someone to teach them Occlumency and Legilimency. Each subject will have a set time, either a morning or afternoon, once a week, as yet that's undecided. I wanted to wait until I knew your recommendation, before working out a schedule.”

“Charms, DADA and Transfiguration? Those are wand-based. Please don’t tell me that they have wands? At their age?” Surely Lupin wasn’t that irresponsible?

“No, gods, no. They have training wands.” At Snape’s blank look, Lupin continued. “Healer Woodloft issued them with training wands. It lets them practice as much as they like, without any risk of a miscast. If they get it right, the tip lights up with a blue _lumos_ -type light. Getting it wrong gets a the same, but in red. They aren’t be able to use them for anything other than learning the spells and movements. All of my Fiends have them.”

“Fiends?”

“Molly Weasley took to calling them that last week, the day they decided to take over the Ministry.”

“Ah, I see… Perhaps having them in Slytherin may not be wise.” He hummed in thought for a few minutes, before sighing. “Saturdays, all day. Potions in the morning and the afternoon will be for Occlumency, Legilimency will wait until they have a secure mindscape. I’ll talk to them about theory, today. If I find them suitable as students, I shall mentor them, myself. I do not expect them to excel, I do however, expect them to try. As long as they put in the effort to learn, I shall put in the same amount of effort to teach them.” Snape stated bluntly. “I will not be leaving Hogwarts at this time, but for the chance to train those, that genuinely want to learn, I will sacrifice a great deal. Not my position, but some of my free time…? Certainly.”

Lupin sighed, in relief.

“In that case… Would you like to meet them?”

 

**Thursday, 18 th of December 1986**

“Uncle Remus!” A voice screamed. “Uncle Remus!”

Remus scrambled through the door of the large bedroom, that all five boys insisted on sharing. Cedric was curled up on his bed, his quilt bundled around him, in front of him, crouched two half-grown black panther cubs. But one glance was enough to show that it wasn’t the panthers that Cedric was screaming about.

On the floor between the beds lay Fred, completely entangled with an adolescent cougar.

“What the…?” He gasped. “Cedric?"

“Ares and Mars were reading to us about Animagi and… Forge laughed and said it was easy, then he began to shift, but… it don’t look easy. He cried and fell on the floor and Gred went with him and now Forge won’t let got of him.” Cedric babbled.

“And Ares and Mars?”

“When Forge grabbed Gred, Ares and Mars pushed me up here and shifted, they won’t let me help Gred.”

“Ah, that’s…. right… you three stay there.” He turned from the bed to the tangle of boy and cat on the floor. “Fred? Fred? Are you alright? Can you handle staying there for a few more seconds?” A red head moved and Remus assumed, that as the boy’s struggling came to a halt, he had nodded. “George? Easy, George, easy there. Take a deep breath and let it out. Let out the pain. Let out the your fur.” Remus crooned. “Let your muscles stretch. Let you bones change. Let my voice fill your ears. Let Fred’s scent fill your nose. Listen to his breathing. Listen to his heartbeat.” George’s struggles eased and slowly fell to the odd twitch. “There you go. Silly, Fiend, you’re supposed to wait for the others, remember? You were all going to learn together. Now Fred and Cedric are going to have to work to catch up.” He gently chided, extending his hand for the cougar to sniff.

A raspy tongue flicked over Remus’ fingers.

“Ew…” Fred screwed his face up, when that same tongue flicked out and caught him on the cheek. “Gross, Forge, gross.” He pushed the furry head away from his.

“Alright, panic over?” Remus asked and both boy and cat nodded. “Good, let’s get you untangled, then. Fred, lift your left leg. George, move your right front leg. Fred, pull yourself forward. George, twist to your right. And…. there we go. Two separate boys… or, well, a cat and a boy. George, up on your bed, please. Ares, Mars, you two join him. Fred, up beside Cedric, please.” Remus waited for the boys – and cats – to move where asked, before continuing. “Right, Fred, Cedric? Do you want to do this tonight? You don’t have to, we can wait until morning.”

Fred and Cedric looked at each other and shrugged.

“Now is fine, Uncle Remus.” Cedric answered for them.

“Alright, then. You know what to do. Ares, Mars? One of you want to shift back and help them, please?” Remus asked.

One of the panther cubs blurred and became a boy. Ares swung his feet around, climbed off the bed and went to join Fred and Cedric.

“Do you know what made George try it tonight?” Remus asked.

“Ah… yeah….” Ares grimaced. “Um…”

“Just spit it out, Ares. Now.”

“Ced, Fred and George are like me and Mars.”

“Yes, I understand that. But what-”

“No, Unca Remus. Like Mars and me. They remember being older. But Cedric died when he was still at Hogwarts and Fred died in the big battle against Tom. George and me… and Mione, we all learned how to shift, together.”

“Oh… I see.” Remus watched first Fred, then Cedric begin to shift. Fred quickly became a cougar, matching his twin, while Cedric developed black and gold stripes.

“A tiger?” Ares laughed. “Your inner ‘Puff is showing, Ced.” The boy in question huffed and that huff was enough of a relaxant, for Cedric to shift from a stripey boy-shape to a half-grown tiger cub.

“I don’t understand, Ares. Inner ‘Puff?”

Ares turned to Remus. “Ced was a ‘Puff, Unca Remus, he wore black and gold all the time.”

“Ah, now I get it.” Remus eyed the tiger cub’s very Hufflepuff colouring.

“Yeah.” Was all Ares said and with a laugh, he shifted back into his panther form, to join those he chose called brothers.

“Alright, you can have an hour, then you have to shift back. No more than an hour a day wearing your fur, for the first six months. You can shift again tomorrow, we’ll have a picnic in the woods between here and the Diggory’s. It still a school day, so we won’t have to worry about wanderers.”

All five cats leapt to their feet and thus began, the funniest game of tag that Remus had ever seen. It  started in their bedroom, but went all over the house, the only rooms that remained cat-free were the potions lab, Remus’ office and his bedroom.

 

**Sunday, 3 rd of April 1988**

“I don’t think that’s going very well, Ares.” Fred commented looking towards the cottage, where Remus was hosting Lord Arcturus Black.

“No, I’m thinking the same, Gred.” Ares replied.

“So… the question is…? What are you going to do about it?” Cedric asked.

“Hmm… I think…” Ares frowned.

“Ares…?” Mars asked. “I don’t like that look.”

“You might not, but I guarantee, Lord Black isn’t going to.” George grinned.

“No, he’s not.” Ares said, standing up and beginning to walk across the lawn.

“Shoot. I’d better go too. Arcturus can be a bit free with the curses.” Mars took off after his brother.

“Wouldn’t do him any good, he’d loose any chance of gaining Ares’ respect if he did.” Fred commented to George and Cedric.

“Do you think he’ll care?” George asked.

“Maybe not to start with, but I’ll bet you a week’s dishes, that he will before he leaves.” Fred grinned.

“No bet.” Cedric snorted. “This is Ares, we’re talking about. If anyone can change Lord Black’s mind, it’s Ares.”

 

Across the lawn, Ares and Mars had reached the patio.

“Uncle Remus?”

“Ares?” Remus asked.

“May we speak with Lord Black, please?” There was something in Ares’ voice that warned Remus that what was about to happen could happen two ways. And neither of them were going to be good for Lord Black.

“Of course, Ares. Do you… want me to stay?”

“No, thank you, Uncle.” Ares answered, warmly

“Alright, I’ll be in the office when you’re ready.” Remus nodded to Lord Black, stood and left the patio.

“Thank you, Uncle.” Mars gave Remus a grim smile.

“Lord Black.” Ares said.

“Call me grandfather, after all you will-”

“Lord Black. You seem to be under the impression that you have any say in what happens to us.” Ares voice was hard and cold, an abrupt turnaround from seconds before.

“Excuse me?”

“No, I don’t believe we shall.” Mars’ voice wasn’t as hard or as cold, but it definitely was not friendly.

“Now, Lord Black. We shall tell you exactly what will happen.” Ares continued, without giving the man a chance to respond. “Mars and I will continue to live with our Uncle. If you try to have us removed you will find yourself in a very difficult place.”

“We will make your life a living misery. What Walburga Black did to our father is nothing, compared to what we will do to you.” Mars assured him.

“I-”

“You are well aware what our father was like, we are worse… or better… depends on your point of view. But you… you would say worse. Because we will give no quarter, we will take no prisoners, we will destroy you.” Ares’s voice was calm, there was no anger or fear, just a clear statement of fact.

“Our lessons are progressing well. Cousin Andromeda has been teaching us politics, law, family history and various etiquettes. Mistress Grubbly-Plank is covering CoMC and Herbology. Potions Master Snape comes out each Saturday for our potions and Occlumency lessons and Uncle Remus covers DADA, Transfiguration, Ancient Runes, Astronomy, History of Magic and Magical Theory.” Mars explained.

“The only thing that we are missing is estate management and we have already sent a request, for an instructor, to Gringotts, we anticipate an answer shortly after Yule.” Ares added.

“So, what it comes down to, Lord Black, is what you want.” Mars said.

“Do you want two happy, well educated, well adjusted heirs? Or… do you want to put yourself and your House through hell?” Ares asked.

“Because, if you force the issue, that’s exactly what’s going to happen.” Mars warned.

“What…? Do you have any idea who I am?” Arcturus growled.

“You… are an old man. And we are the sons of the grandson you allowed to be disowned.” Mars answered.

“Bluntly put, Lord Black? You need us, we don’t need you.” Ares bared his teeth and let a little of his Animagus form show in his slightly elongated teeth and rumbling voice.

Arcturus blinked in shock.

“We are _**never**_ going to consider you family, not after your treatment of our father. So, decide what is better for House Black in the long brew, two responsible and well trained heirs? Or the chaos and destruction we will reign down on you?” Mars offered.

“The choice is yours, Lord Black.” Ares ended and the two boys sat back and waited.

They watched Arcturus as he studied them, his eyes flitting from one to the other and back again. Finally he sighed and sat back.

“Very well, gentlemen. I concede. What are your terms?”

“Nothing.” Mars said.

“Nothing? I don’t… I don’t understand?”

“We require nothing from the House of Black. We have our Uncle, we have our father’s vault and our mother’s muggle lottery winnings.” Ares explained.

“Muggle?” It was said with a sneer.

“Exchanged for ʛalleons, it makes a nice nest egg. ʛ2,500,000 would keep even a niffler busyfor a bit, wouldn’t it?” Mars answered with an innocent face.

“And thanks to Great Uncle Alphard’s support of our father, we have quite a healthy trust vault, too. We will need to use estates for our Estate Management lessons, but we have sufficient funds to purchase suitable properties.” Ares commented.

Arcturus looked at them, not able to believe what he heard. “You truly need nothing from the House of Black? But Walburga said-”

“Like she said that Christina Wittlaw was pregnant with Daddy’s child? Like she said that Jessica Laurence was pregnant with Uncle Regulus’ child? Like she said that Daddy betrayed Uncle James and Aunt Lily? Like she said that Pettigrew was a nice young man? Like she said Uncle Remus was a werewolf?” Mars cut him off.

“Lord Black, you need to be a little more Slytherin in your research. Or at the very least, do your own research. Don’t rely on someone who… a) is dead… b) is very biased… c) cares so little about others that she’d use the Cruciatus on children or d) someone who poisoned her own husband when he disagreed with her.” Ares suggested.

“You know a lot about our House…?” Arcturus asked a leading question.

“And very little of it is good.” Mars replied.

“We have cousin Andromeda as a teacher and we got to read Daddy’s journals. Nothing we’ve said should be news to you.” Ares shook his head.

“It’s not, but I did not expect to hear it from you.”

“Why? Because we’re ten? Lord Black, we are the Heirs to two Ancient and Noble Houses, we need to know all that we can, if we are to survive in the Wizarding world and make our father and godfather proud of us.”

“I see… No, I don’t see.” Arcturus corrected himself. “If that’s the case, why are you rejecting my assistance?”

“Because so far, nothing you’re offering is new to us and it all comes with strings. If you offered something new, something we needed and left off the strings, we’d certainly think about it.” Ares answered.

“But until then…?” Mars added.

“Until then, you don’t need the House of Black, but the House of Black needs you.” Arcturus sighed.

“It needs Mars, not me.” Ares corrected. “Mars is Heir Black. I am Heir Potter.”

“Potter…? How did that happen?”

“James Potter is our Godfather, he and Aunt Lily blood adopted us, don’t know when, though. But it had to have been before Aunt Lily had cousin Harry, as I have always been Heir Potter.”

“Do you have plans for after school?” Arcturus was quickly forgetting that he was talking with ten year old children, these two boys were so much more mature.

“Certainly we do.” Mars grinned wickedly.

“Let’s get the rest of the Fiends in and we’ll explain what we plan to do.” Ares’ expression was just as devious.

 

**Saturday, 18 th of March 1989**

Movement in the hedgerows caught Minerva McGonagall’s eye, but given the depth of the shadows, the being moving was unidentifiable. For the next three hundred feet, the movement shadowed the witch, until the hedgerows ended and a fence began.

She stepped away from the road and onto a path that lead to a rickety old gate.

“Oh, dear.” She sighed, sadly. The cottage behind the gate was tired and run down, not a pleasant place at all. The thought of a set of muggleborn twins coming from here, didn’t inspire confidence in her, the likelihood of whomever was raising them, accepting the twin boys as wizards was scarce.

As her hand rested on the gate a tingle went through her fingers.

“How odd…” She muttered. “That was almost like…” She trailed off in thought and pushed the gate open.

Stepping through, she shook her head in confusion. “What on Earth…?” The run down cottage was gone and in it’s place, a well maintained, quintessentially Devonshire cottage appeared. White painted exterior with a thatched roof, the two-story cottage sat in the middle of a well tended garden, a cobblestone path leading to the front door.

Minerva turned and looked at the gate, before turning back to the house, suddenly uncertain. She took a single step towards the house, before coming to a screeching halt. Sitting in front of her were five cats.

But not five ordinary cats. No, these were different.

Two panthers.

Two cougars.

And a tiger.

Minerva’s eyes widened and her breath caught in her throat when the two panthers stood and slowly, edged towards her. Their sensitive noses and whiskers twitching, as they caught her scent. With a coughing chuff, the two dropped to their haunches and looked at her. A questioning mewl came from the tiger and one of the panthers answered with a chittering growl, then both panthers twitched and stood.

But as they stood, both panthers changed. Just as she did when she changed from her Animagus form to her human form, both panthers lost their fur and straightened from crouching on four legs to walking upright on two feet.

“What on…?” She gasped.

“Professor McGonagall?” Asked a young boy, that just seconds ago, had been a panther.

“You are Professor McGonagall, aren’t you?” Asked a second, identical boy.

“W-what?” She stammered. “Oh, yes. Yes, I am.” She pulled herself together. “I’m here to speak to the Uncle of Mars and Ares La Pen.”

Both boys stood tall and bowed to her.

“Welcome to Sorrell Cottage, Professor McGonagall.” They said together, before stepping forward and offering their hands. Together the boys drew Minerva towards the house, not towards the front door, but to a gravel path that ran off to one side and around the house. “This way, please, Professor.” One boy gestured broadly and the three other big cats lead the way.

As the interesting parade of cats and people rounded the front corner of the house, one boy tossed Minerva a smile and ran off in front of them, heading for the back of the house. A few seconds later, Minerva heard his voice.

“Uncle Remus! Uncle Remus! Professor McGonagall’s here, Uncle Remus.”

It took only a few seconds more for the parade of beings to emerge from the overshadowed path and onto a broad paved patio.

“So I see, Mars.” Remus Lupin smiled at the boy and turned his brilliant blue eyes towards Minerva. “Perfect timing, Professor. Maisy’s just pulled a batch of shortbread from the oven. Join us?” He stood and with a wave of his wand conjured up a seat, one that strongly resembled the red leather, club armchairs from the Gryffindor common room.

The older witch blinked a few times and huffed a sigh.

“I think I shall, Mr Lupin.” She twitched her wand and her neat muggle-styled business suit smoothly transformed into her usual deep green velvet robes. It was a minute or so before she continued. “I must confess, Mr Lupin, I was not expecting to see you today.”

Remus smiled. “I dare say you weren’t, Professor. I’m assuming you are here to give Mars and Ares their letters?”

“Indeed. And that leads me to ask… Why are _**you**_ here, Mr Lupin?”

That was the third time in as many minutes, that she had used his surname and if he’d still been at school, Remus would have expected that with the next use, he would be issued a detention to go with it.

“I live here, Professor.” He answered simply.

“Excuse me?” She looked askance at him.

“I live here, Professor.” He said a second time. “Myself and the boys.”

Minerva huffed and sat forward.

“Speaking of the boys… care to explain why I am here to deliver invitations to Hogwarts?” She paused. “Obviously both boys are aware that they are wizards. Given the fact that they are both Animagi.” She huffed. “And who may I ask taught them that? And why are they calling you, Uncle?”

“Ah…” Remus grimaced. “Can we wait a few moments? I want to get the boys sorted and then I’ll happily answer any and all questions I can.”

Minerva drew in a deep breath and answered with a sharp nod.

“Thanks, Professor.” Remus replied.

With that, he turned to the two boys and the three large cats.

“Righto boys, back on two legs, please.” There was a grumble from the two cougars. “Biscuits are for boys, not cats.”

The tiger huffed and with a flick of it’s tail, it stepped forward and in two steps became a child with sandy-blonde hair. Seconds later, the two cougars did the same, leaving five boys standing on the patio, looking at the plate of biscuits, pleadingly.

“You know the rules, boys.” Remus warned.

“Yes, Uncle Remus.” All five answered.

With that, one at a time, each boy stepped forward and picked out three of the small, delicate lemon-scented biscuits and placed them in a small tightly woven basket, then picked up a metal drink bottle, each one a different colour. Once all five boys held a basket and a bottle, Remus nodded and smiled.

“Well done, boys. Off you go, but remember, you have to stay in the yard while we have a guest. And take Stompy with you.”

“Yes, Uncle Remus.” Five voices answered. One by one, they smiled at Remus and bowed to Minerva, then they grinned broadly and three raced off across the lawn. The other two darted down to the far end of the patio and came to a stop beside what looked like a potted willow tree. But given what Remus called it and that the tree moved it’s branches to curl around the boys’ arms, Minerva assumed it wasn’t a muggle willow, but rather a relative of the Whomping Willow at Hogwarts. Remus smiled and shook his head.

“So… where to start?” Remus retrieved a cup, saucer and plate from a tray of fine china, placed in the centre of the round picnic-style table, he placed them beside Minerva and turned the handle of the teapot towards her. “Would you like to pour?”

“Thank you, Mr Lupin.” She poured fragrant Earl Grey tea into the fragile china cup Remus had placed for her and also into the much larger coffee mug in front of the wizard. “Start with who those boys are and how they came to be in your care.”

“Who’d have thought it?” He said. “Four years ago, I was burying myself in misery. Mother had died while I was at Hogwarts and James, Lily and Peter on that Halloween. Sirius was in Azkaban. Dumbledore had spirited Harry away, to who knows where. Rommy was missing, presumed dead. And it had been like that for a while. January 1985, I was contacted by the Aurors, my father had been found in America, or rather his body had been found. In November the year before, a weather system hit Florida, MACUSA called it a Nor’Easter, which was supposed to mean something, but I didn’t figure that out until much later… Anyway… my father was one of two people to die, both from exposure. It took almost three months to back-track him to England.” He sighed sadly. “That mean I was alone. My family and friends were either dead, missing or imprisoned. It wasn’t a good time for me.”

Minerva leant over and patted Remus’ hand, but said nothing.

“Then at the end of July, I got another call from the Aurors. I figured it was about Sirius. I wasn’t right… but I also wasn’t wrong.”

“How so?”

“The Aurors asked me to come to the DMLE office, when I got there, they asked when I’d seen my sister Rommy last.”

“Rommy?” Minerva had thought that Remus had said Ronnie, meaning Bronwyn Westcomb, who was a Ravenclaw and had been a study partner at times. Obviously not.

“Rommy… my twin sister was Romulinda. Father said the healers told he and mother, that she was having twins and said it was boys, so when we were born, father named us. He stated my name was Remus John Lupin and started to say that my twin was Romulus Jeffery Lupin, but mother cut him off halfway through Romulus, with Linda. The result was that magic recognised my sister as Romulinda Jeffery Lupin. Even though she was very definitely female, magic accepted a masculine name for her. Mother cut our names down to Remmy and Rommy, mostly to annoy father. I get my pranking talents from her.” Remus smirked.

“I see.” Minerva shook her head in amusement.

“So, the Aurors wanted to know when I’d seen Rommy last. They were a bit surprised when I said I hadn’t seen her, since I’d caught her making lust potions, that was the summer before seventh year. She had a thing for James and Sirius. I caught her trying to give one to James and that caused a massive argument. She stormed out of the house and I’d not seen her since.”

“Oh, dear.”

“Yeah. So… They said that a woman had been found murdered earlier that morning and that an identity charm named her as Romulinda Jeffery Lupin. They thought something was off about the name, but after checking with Births, Death, Marriages and Bonds, they found that it was correct.” Remus took a sip of his tea before continuing. “She was murdered. There was a huge burst of accidental magic, big enough that obliviators were called in. They found Rommy dead on the kitchen floor of her flat in muggle London.”

“Oh, my.” Minerva whispered. “Were there any leads on who did it?”

“They didn’t need leads. The bastard was pinned to the wall of the kitchen, every pointed or sharp item in the kitchen was embedded in his body, holding him over a foot off the ground. The only exception was the carving knife he’d used to slit her throat, that had dropped from his hand and was laying at his feet. The Aurors said, her blood was still wet on it, when they burst in.”

“Ah…” Minerva hesitated.

“The Aurors did a check. They used a residue charm, it registered Rommy as the caster, it was an accidental banishing and all the knives carried the residue of that banishing.” Remus assured her, knowing of her time in the DMLE. “They were even able to trace it back to her core. Rommy might not have been magically strong enough to use a wand or go to Hogwarts, but she wasn’t quite a squib.”

“Fair enough.”

“Apparently at some stage, they were looking to clear the flat and did a _Homenum Revelio_ , or some equivalent. That showed two other people in the flat. When the Aurors went looking… they found two children.” Remus clenched his jaw tight, he remembered his first sight of those two children. “Both were battered and bruised. One had a severe concussion and a broken arm, he was unconscious.” Minerva gasped. “After calming Ares down, the Aurors called for healers. Turns out they were Rommy’s sons. Twins. They were just seven years old. Seven. And they were used to being beaten by Rommy’s… let’s call him her boss, for now.”

“Boss?”

“She was an escort… a prostitute… a whore. Whatever you want to call it. And he was her… boss.” Remus sighed.

“Ah.” Minerva grimaced again.

“Yeah. So, there I am in the DMLE  being told about nephews I didn’t know existed, only to be hit by another bludger. The DMLE had been through Rommy’s papers. She’d won the lottery in June and obviously decided to get out, she bought a cottage in Devon. This cottage. And she’d named me as the boys’ guardian. Magical and muggle. That caused a fuss in the DMLE’s ranks. Someone threw a niffler in the room when they went on a rant about me being a werewolf. It took me by surprise.”

“Why?”

“I’m not a werewolf, Professor. I’m-”

“Excuse me? You’re not what?”

“I’m not a werewolf. It took them hours to sort that out. Apparently Headmaster Dumbledore had registered me as a werewolf. I’m not. After hours of discussion, Healer Tansy Woodloft decided that to settle the debate, the easiest thing was to have me submit to testing, to see if I did carry the disease. Two healers, two Aurors, the Head of the Aurors and the Head of The Werewolf Registry, all witnessed the testing. Needless to say, I passed with an O+ and no disease. Then one of the Aurors asked why Dumbledore registered me, that caused Head Healer Strout to ask who signed the Healer’s Certificate that Dumbledore had to provide? The Registry Head admitted that Dumbledore hadn’t provided a certificate. That caused Strout to issue a Certificate to state that I wasn’t a werewolf and demanded that my name be removed from the register immediately.”

Minerva blinked a few times before demanding. “If you weren’t a werewolf when you were at Hogwarts, why did Albus send you out of the school every full moon?”

“Ah… that… It’s complicated. I-”

“Un-complicate it.” Came the blunt reply.

“Yes, I was attacked by Fenrir Greyback as a young child, I bear the scars to this day. But… no one ever asked if I was just scratched or if I was bitten, they all just assumed I was.” Remus answered cautiously.

“What?”

“I have scars on my face, on my shoulders and on my chest. But no bites.They're all scratches.”

“Oh, dear.”

“Exactly. No one thought to ask, they all just assumed. I wasn’t turned. I suffered from Luna-sensitivity, I felt the pull of the moon and got quite grumpy over full moons, and add a dietary condition, because my senses were heightened, I needed a larger amount of protein. Now, I started at Hogwarts at 11, like everyone else, but… father was dealing with a jealous and resentful Rommy who didn’t have enough magic to use a wand. So his explanation to the Headmaster and Medi-witch were a bit lacking in details and, of course, neither of which wanted to take my word for it.”

“I see. And Albus in his wisdom, thought that meant that you needed to be separated from the other students.”

“Yes. I didn’t. I don’t carry enough of the disease to infect someone, so it was unnecessary.”

“But he did it anyway.”

“Yeah.” Remus sighed and went back to his story. “By the time St Mungo's had convinced the DMLE and the Registry that I wasn’t a werewolf, it was getting on towards morning. When I asked about the boys. Strout said that the healer in charge of their care had spent time talking to them. They were twins, born on the 1st of April. Their fa-”

“Oh, gods. April fool’s day?” Minerva cut him off.

“Yeah and you want to know what makes it worse?”

“No?” It came out as a question.

“Their father.”

“What about their father?” Minerva wasn’t sure she wanted to know.

“Their father was Sirius Black.”

She knew she shouldn’t have asked. “No…” She whispered.

“Given their age, Rommy had to have gotten pregnant the summer before our seventh year.” Remus sighed sadly. “And that was last summer I saw her.”

“When she tried to potion James?”

“She had to have already been pregnant at that point, as when I saw what she was doing, I yelled at her and cast a potion detection charm at the drink she’d just given him. It lit up, red. James threw the drink at her and started yelling too, he mentioned line theft and she ran from the house, crying. She never came back, she didn’t take her vault key, she didn’t take her coin purse, nothing. She was just gone.”

“Until the Aurors found her.” Minerva sighed.

“Until the Aurors found her dead on her kitchen floor with her sons in a tiny room, injured.” Remus nodded. “I asked to meet them and I’d barely taken one step into the room before I was knocked on my as-” he paused, “butt, by a tiny black haired boy. Apparently Rommy had told them stories about me and their dad and our friends. She had photos that I’d never seen before, some of them taken after the boys were born.”

“What makes you say that?”

“There’s a couple of me with a very pregnant Lily, of me and Siri playing with Harry and Lily at the beach at Sidmouth, of Siri and that stupid bike he loved.” Remus answered.

“I see.” Minerva nodded in thought. “So, the boys knew who you were?”

“They did.”

“And what about their mother? Did they know…?”

“They’d been told, but… they were only seven, they didn’t understand, not really. I told them that Rommy had gone to be with Grandma and Grandpa, though. And that was better. They knew that Grandma and Grandpa had gone to heaven and weren’t able to come back.”

“Oh, the poor things.”

“The poor dears, my as-” oops, “-sainted aunt. They’re Sirius’ sons, alright. I stayed with them that night and woke up the next morning, with ink drawings all over my face.” He grumbled and Minerva pursed her lips to avoid snickering. “Thank Flitwick and Lily for teaching us glamour and cosmetic charms.” He smirked. “I did make it so the boys could still see their handiwork, though, they were so proud that they’d managed not to wake me, while they did it.”

Minerva chuckled at the image in her mind.

“Yeah, you’re laughing now, just wait until September.” Her chuckles ended instantly and his smirk fell. “When St Mungo's released them, the Aurors brought us here, handed over Rommy’s paperwork and left me with copies of the reports. They did suggest a trip to Gringotts to confirm the boys’ identity, particularly given Rommy’s… employment.”

“And?”

“Like I said, they’re Sirius’ sons.”

“What does Lord Black say?”

“No idea, he came here to see them, but Ares and Mars kicked me out of that conversation. They must have come to some agreement, though, as they continue to write to Arcturus at least once a month. Gringotts also did the boys’ identity tests, and the shock was that the tests say that while Mars is Heir Black, Ares is Heir Potter.”

“Potter?”

“Their Inheritance testing shows that… it suggests that somehow, the Potter’s knew about them. There’s a single entry in Rommy’s diary that says that Fleamont said that Mars would be Lord Black someday and as James seemed to want to give his entire estate away and no one was sure that James even could have children, especially after that quidditch accident, Fleamont thought the best way to keep the estate intact was to remove James as Heir. But he still wanted the Potter estate to have some connection to the Potters, so he insisted that James blood adopt both boys. Rommy’s diary says Fleamont then put the information under a Fidelius and made her secret keeper, with the secret to be released either at a time of her choosing or giving her the ability to pass the Secret to another person, on her death.”

Minerva huffed a sigh, Albus was not going to like that.

“Albus…” She didn’t know what to say.

“The Headmaster has no say in Family matters, Professor. None at all.” Remus smirked. “Especially as Rommy passed the Secret along… to me.” Minerva frowned. “That’s right, I’ve told you the Secret, but as it’s under Fidelius, you can’t tell anyone else.” The witch looked like she’d been handed a flobberworm.

“Alright. That explains two boys. How do you have five that call you Uncle? And they’re all Animagi?”

“The redheads are Fred and George Weasley.” Remus tapped his wand on the teapot and it vanished. “Maisy will make another pot and pop it out to us.” He replied to her unasked question. “We met Fred and George, just a week after moved here. The Weasley’s live just over there.” Remus pointed in the opposite direct to what Minerva had approached the house from.

“Cedric is Amos Diggory’s son and Amos, as I’m sure you’re aware, works in Regulation and Control, as Head of the Werewolf Registry.”

“So, he was aware that you aren’t actually a werewolf?”

“He wasn’t, not until Rommy’s death and me being tested, again. But as he was present for the entire episode, he knew that we’d be living here. Apparently he talked it over with his wife and they invited us for dinner one evening. Ares, Mars and Cedric got along quite well, so we anticipated a few play-dates in their future. It was only a few days later that Molly Weasley turned up with a basket of fruit to welcome us to the area.” Remus went on.

“I see.”

“But later that evening there was a change in circumstances. Molly Floo-called, she said that Arthur was held up in Diagon with Bill, Charlie and Ronald, something to do with the Aurors, but that she wasn’t permitted to go into detail. Later, Arthur said that, in the middle of Diagon Alley, Pettigrew lost control of his Animagus form and shifted in front of Aurors.”

“Ah... and the Aurors wanted to speak to Arthur and the boys?”

“Yes, to Bill and Percy, but as Ronald was only five and had started to run a temperature, Molly was encouraged to fetch him home, then to make matters more complicated for her, Pandora Lovegood, who’d had Ginevra for the day, said the girl was also running a temp and wanted to send her home, too.”

“When it rains, it pours.” Minerva sighed.

“Oh, that’s not all. Molly asked me to take Fred, George and Charlie until she could have Ronald and Ginevra assessed by St Mungo's, I said ‘yes’, of course.”

“Of course, I would expect no less from you, Mr Lupin.”

“Remus, please, otherwise I may feel like I’m back in detention and get the need to retaliate.”

“Don’t.” Came the quick reply.

Remus laughed, lightly. “There I am with five boys, when Amos floo-ed. His wife Sarah, had come down with mumblemumps and while neither he nor Cedric had them, Cedric has a sensitivity to Boom berries…”

“And hence to the Wiggenweld potion.” Minerva finished for him, nodding.

“Exactly. So, Cedric joined the cast of misfits. Arthur and Amos set Crisis Housing contracts in place, at my request, for Cedric, Fred, George and Percy. Bill and Charlie, of course, returned to Hogwarts. That left us to get on with life, me with the boys and Molly, Arthur and Amos caring for their ill. Unfortunately…  Percy struggled here. He’s a very studious boy and he was surrounded by boisterous lads, not really a good mix.”

“No.” Minerva agreed.

“After talking the matter over with Arthur and his father Septimus, Percy was given the opportunity to stay with Septimus and Cedrella, but come here three days a week for lessons. He took it and has been doing well, ever since.”

“But they’re still here?”

“Yeah… Sarah… she was ill for a few months, before getting progressively worse, she died in February. Amos can't work, raise and home-school a child, all at the same time.”

“I see.”

“And Fred and George? That’s even more complicated. Turns out that Ronald and Ginevra also had mumblemumps, but…?”

“How old were they?”

“Ronald was five and Ginevra was four.” Remus answered.

“Oh, dear.”

“Yes, they became a text-book example of a worst-case scenario. Their immature and not-yet-stable cores couldn’t cope and they were drained, badly. They ended up like Rommy, not quite squibs, but certainly not strong enough to wield a wand. It took Molly and Arthur a month after St Mungo's informed, to make a decision. I think that the children’s personalities had a bearing on their choice. Both Ronald and Ginevra were stubborn and spoiled. Ronald was also greedy and quite jealous if anyone got something and he didn’t. Ginevra was aggressive and could be violent with her brothers, the downfall of being only girl and youngest child of seven.” Remus explained. “When Head Healer Strout told them that Ronald and Ginevra would never carry wands or attend Hogwarts, Molly was devastated, but it forced Arthur to think of what was best for the children. He got in contact with Molly’s cousin, Laura. Laura’s a squib and lives in the muggle world, a small village on the coast near Newcastle, I believe. The Prewett’s are purebloods, they might be pro-muggle, but they are still purebloods and having squib – or almost squib – children, is not taken well. Arthur and Muriel discussed it with St Mungo's and they stripped the children’s family magic from them.”

“Oh, my…”

“Squibs have no individual magic, only what they inherited via Family magic, having that stripped away, Ronald and Ginevra are basically muggles, now. It involved some fairly intensive and barely legal memory alterations, but they remember nothing about magic or that they had siblings. They were told that their parents died from the same illness that they were still recovering from and that their mother’s cousin, Laura, was their only living relative. So, they were going to live with her. Cedrella and Septimus saw to the small financial allowance and payout that went to Laura as reparation. And they were gone.” Remus sighed. “But Molly is still struggling. Arthur believes that she’s partly feeling guilty that they got sick and lost their magic and partly relieved that she doesn’t have to raise squibs and feels guilty at that relief.”

“And the boys?”

“Relieved. Neither Fred nor George got along with Ronald, he kept getting them blamed for things he did and taunting them with it. Ginevra? When they came here, both of them had bruises from where she’d hit or bit them and Molly couldn’t, or wouldn’t, see it. Arthur’s not pushing for the boys’ to go back, because Molly… well, she mothers Bill and Charlie when they’re around, Percy when she sees him, but Fred and George just get a ‘oh, hello, I see you’re well. Good works boys, keep it up’ and nothing more. When Bill was here at Yule, he said it was almost like she’d forgotten that they were hers.”

“Middle children often get forgotten.” Minerva conceded.

A faint chime rang from inside and a few seconds later a familiar figure emerged from the cottage.

“Severus?” Minerva gasped.

“Good morning, Severus.” Remus added.

“Good morning.” Severus nodded to them both. “As my students are not in the lab waiting for me, I assume they’re out here?”

“They are. Give me a minute and I’ll round them up. Help yourself to tea and biscuits. The shortbread’s fresh from the oven, this morning.” Remus stood and headed across the lawn.

“Severus?” Minerva asked, again.

“Yes, Minerva?”

“What…? Why…? Why are you here?” Minerva stumbled over the words.

“I come here every Saturday, Minerva. I tutor the boys in potions, as well as Occlumency and Legilimency, and have done for a few years, now.”

“What? But…? You knew about them?”

“Yes, didn’t you? I mean… you are here?” Snape answered.

“Yes, but… I thought I was delivering letters to muggleborns.”

“Oh, but they're not…”

“But, they’re not. The boys greeted me at the gate as cats.”

Snape snorted. “I dare say Remus has told them of your Animagus form and of how often you caught your Gryffindors out after curfew.”

“Remus? You use his given name?”

“Yes, Minerva.” Snape sighed. “We resolved our issues some time ago.”

Minerva sat forward. “What are the boys like?”

“Hell, basically.” Snape answered quickly. “They’re smart, eager, stubborn, sneaky and reckless. They work hard, they clean up after themselves, they’re precise and they leave me with little to correct. I’m forced to find new potions nearly every week, it’s incredibly frustrating. I’ve students at Hogwarts that will graduate this year, that aren’t as well prepared for their NEWTs as these five are, right now.”

“I wonder who they got that from?” Minerva mused.

“Ares and Mars, no doubt got it from their father, Black for all his lackadaisical attitude to school, was still able to pass his NEWTs, almost everything with an O+, even potions.”

“Interesting…” Minerva replied.

Remus ambled across the lawn with a gaggle of boys bouncing around them.

“Good morning, Master Snape.” A redhead said as they reached patio.

“Mr Fiend.” Snape answered. “Is there a reason you and your fellow Fiends weren’t in the lab this morning? I did ask you to complete a different potion each for homework.”

“Yes, sir, we finished them, just as you asked. We even had Uncle Remus spectate to make sure that each of us only worked on our own potion.” The second redhead said.

“Who chose which potion?” Snape asked.

“Cedric chose the vitamix nutrient potion.” Said one of the brunettes.

“Ares picked the invigorating draught.” Said the other brunette, that Minerva assumed was Mars.

“Mars chose the energy replenishing draught, to complement Ares’ choice.” The sandy haired boy, who must be Cedric, added.

“Fred picked the calming draught.” One of the redheaded twins said.

“And George chose the draught of peace, to go with mine.” The redhead said.

“I see… I had not expected that you would complete your chosen potion before the end of today’s lesson, so I have no plans for our lesson. Is there something in particular you would like to work on?” Snape asked.

“Yes, please, Master Snape. We would like to work on the Antidote to common poisons. That or an antidote to love potions.” Ares answered.

“Yes, I think that would be wise to have in your potions cabinet. Very well, Fiends, to the lab, please.” Snape directed and with a quick bow to Minerva all five boys headed inside, followed by Snape.

“Fiends? He calls them Fiends?” Minerva asked.

“We all do. Molly started it, that first August. She and I were having tea out here on the patio when the boys ran up, they’d come up with a wonderful idea. I still shudder at the look on their faces. Remember that expression James and Sirius got, when they started planning a prank?”

“Oh, yes, how could I ever forget?”

“Well, all of them wore it. Their intended prank? Take over the Ministry, from within.” Remus said bluntly.

“The Ministry? Our Ministry?” Minerva blinked.

“Yep. Cedric, being the child of a renowned neutral family, would become Minister. Fred and George are still swapping about, but between them they’ll take the Finance and Commerce seats. Ares will head the DMLE and Mars will be Chief Warlock.”

“Ambitious. Very ambitious. I’m guessing… Slytherin?”

“Maybe. They’re right on the border between Slytherin and Gryffindor. I’m leaning a little towards Gryffindor, simply because, while the boys can portray a perfect pureblood Heir, it’s not their favourite thing to do.”

“Hmm…”

“Severus isn’t sure whether he wants them or not.”

“Why-ever not?”

“He’s see some of their pranks and he’s not sure that having the quidditch cup for the six years, they’ll be allowed to play, is worth the risk of having them and the likes of the Bole Heir, the Flint Heir and the Pucey boy, all in the same house. He seems to think the other boys may come off second best and wants to avoid dealing with their fathers.”

“Hmm… Why would they go to Slytherin, if they’re anti-Slytherin?”

“Oh, they’re not. They’re just anti-bullies.”

“Ah. Well it doesn’t really matter, the Hat will put them where it will, it’s doubtful they’ll all end up in the same house.”

“Oh, they will.” Remus grimaced. “Don’t ask how or what, but they’ve got blackmail on the Hat. All five will be in the one house and it depends on how you’re listing them as to who get’s to decide. It will either be Ares or Cedric.”

“How do you figure that?”

“Cedric’s birthday is the middle of September.”

“And Ares, because…?”

“Alphabetically Black comes before Diggory or Weasley.”

“But we’ve them listed as La Pen.” Minerva argued.

“That’s probably just Rommy’s bad writing, she said we may as well have written wolf, as the Latin for wolf is Lupus.”

“But…”

“It won’t matter, as soon as school’s back, I’ll be taking the boys to Gringotts to claim their Heir Rings, that will change everything, they’ll be formally named as Ares and Mars Black-Potter.”

“Oh, hell. Leave it as late as you can, otherwise you’ll have the Headmaster demanding answers.”

“He can demand all he wants. But if Ares and Mars can handle Arcturus, they can handle Albus. In fact, I wouldn’t mind seeing him try to manipulate them, it would be a lesson in humility, that’s for sure.”

“Arcturus Black?”

“Yes. I was out of my depth and probably about to make a huge mistake, when Ares and Mars walked up, kicked me out of the discussion and had Arcturus concede the conversation within minutes. He got nothing that he’d arrived demanding and the boys still have the upper hand in all their dealings with him.”

“Well…” Minerva tilted her head in thought. “It will be interesting, then. I look forward to September 1st.”

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Tuesday, 5 th of April 1989**

Ares and Mars had both been to Diagon Alley before, Remus had taken the Fiends on many trips there, but this time was different.

This time they had their Hogwarts letters, this time they were getting their school supplies.

“Alright, boys.” Remus said once the arch from the Leaky Cauldron’s tiny courtyard to the Alley, was open. “Where first?”

All five of the Fiends looked at him, as though he were stupid.

“Wands, Uncle Remus.” The chorused.

“Wands? You sure?” Remus teased. “What about books?”

“Wands first.” Ares answered firmly.

“Then a bag and a trunk, each.” Mars added.

“Then books.” Cedric said.

“Then potion ingredients, parchments and other supplies.” Fred said.

“Then uniforms and lastly, pets.” George added.

Remus blinked and sighed. “I should have known you five would have today all planned out.”

“Not exactly, Uncle Remus. We just know what we need and we’ve worked out who’s in charge of getting what and the order it’s to be done in. Timing…? That’s a different tree of Bowtruckles, altogether.” Ares corrected.

“Yeah, Uncle Remus. Who knows how long it’s going to take Ares to get a wand.” Fred teased.

Ares gave Fred a dirty look, but didn’t say anything.

“Remus!” A strong voice called, when the group turned, they saw a stout man wearing earthy coloured robes, walking in their direction.

“Dad!” Cedric darted over to hug his father.

“Ced.” Amos’ arms held his son close. Since his wife’s death, Cedric had been a light in his dingy little world and he would do everything he could, to ensure that his boy was happy. Letting him stay with Remus and his household of boys was, in a way, a relief for Amos, the pressure of being a single parent was gone. On good days, he could spend time with a happy Cedric, sure in the knowledge that his son was happy, healthy and well educated. On bad days, just the thought of his son was heart-wrenching, that his son was alive was just a reminder that his wife wasn’t.

“I’m glad I caught you. I had hoped I was early enough. I forgot to give you this, last night, Remus.” Amos pulled out a coin purse and handed it to Remus. “For Ced’s school things. There should be more than enough for everything, so it’s up to you how many ʛalleons he can take to school with him.”

“You didn’t need to do that, Amos.” Remus objected.

“Oh, I know. I know House Diggory pays a stipend for being his Crisis Guardian, but I’m still his father and as a part of his life, I want to do this, Remus. You have the responsibility of raising him… all five boys, really… I just visit when I’ve the time. You deserve so much more than just that miserly little stipend. I know the boys have some pretty ambitious plans for the future and I think that may just mean that they need a little more than other first years. Plus, it’s got his Gringotts key in there, too.” Amos finished with a laugh.

“Fine, Amos, you win this round.” Remus snorted in amusement when Mars pulled out a small book and made a checkmark in it. “Knock it off, you.” He chided the boy.

“Na uh, Uncle Remus.” Mars tucked the book away.

“Have you time to join us for wands, Amos? I’m sure the boys won’t mind Ced going first?” Remus was answered by four shaking heads. “There you go.”

“Actually, I do. I received an owl just as I was leaving the house this morning, saying my appointment Scrimgeour are being reshuffled, no reason given, unfortunately.”

“But it does give you the chance to see Cedric get this first wand.” Remus offered.

“It does.” He gave Cedric a squeeze and smiled at the other boys. “Shall we?”

“We shall.” All five boys answered.

Remus gestured and the boys fell into place around him, although Ced kept a hold of his father’s hand as they walked. With a light smattering of adults, but few children, the Alley seemed almost empty and the group had few obstacles as they made their way to the far end of the main Alley.

“Ollivanders. Here we are.” Amos smiled at their excited faces and pushed the door open.

Inside the shop, the cluttered shelves of long, flat boxes, filled the space, row upon row of shelves reached to ceiling.

When the bell above the door tinkled as Remus closed the door behind them, a wizened face appeared from, seemingly, nowhere.

“Ah… Mr Diggory… I thought I'd be seeing…” The old man began smiling, but the longer he looked at Cedric the more the smile fell away from his face. “Hmm…” He studied Cedric, walked around him, leant in and looked at him harder, humming in thought. “Well, now… That is most peculiar, most peculiar indeed.” He turned from Cedric to Amos. “This young man needs a custom wand, not something that I specialise in, I’m afraid. I think… yes… I think Blishwick’s is best.” He turned to the other boys, but within seconds he eyebrows rose, sharply in surprise. “All of them. They all need custom wands. Most peculiar indeed. I’ve never had so many at once, that need custom wands. Whatever is the world coming to?” He muttered as he turned away from them. He picked up a quill and dipped it into an inkwell, a few scribbled lines and he handed a piece of parchment to Amos. “Take that to Blishwick’s, Fenton will be able to use that to shorten the selection process.” He nodded to Remus and Amos and disappeared back into the towers of wands.

“Well…” Amos said. “That was…” He didn’t know what to say.

“Yes.” Remus agreed. “Let’s find Blishwick’s, then. I’ve never heard of them, any ideas on where they might be located?”

“I’m…” Amos trailed off. “I’m not sure.”

“Uncle Remus?” George asked. “The custom trunk shop is in Technic Alley, would a custom wand shop be there, too?” George knew exactly where Blishwick’s was, but being in public meant he couldn’t just out and say it. He had to lead the ‘adults’ in the group to the right destination.

“That’s a good idea, George. It very well may by, if not, they’ll be able to point us in the right direction.”

Finding Blishwick’s turned out to be a simple process, they’d barely stepped onto Technic Alley, when Fred pointed.

“There it is. There’s Blishwick’s, Uncle Remus.”

“So it is, well spotted, Fred.” Remus pushed the shop’s door open and entered the brightly lit space.

A chime sounded as they stepped across the threshold, one chime for each person.

“Oh, my. Welcome to Blishwick’s. I’m Fenton Blishwick.” A bright voice greeted them. “It’s not often we get so many customers, all at once.”

“Good morning.” Amos gave the older woman a bow. “Ollivander referred us.” He offered over the slip of parchment.

“Ah… ooh, all five of you?” She asked the boys.

“Yes, ma'am.” Mars grinned as he answered.

“Well, now… let me see. Garrick seems to think that you…” She pointed at Cedric. “… would be favoured by Ash or Poplar. I’m going to suggest trying out Pear and Fir, as well. You lot.” She turned the two sets of twins. “You lot are going to be more difficult. Apple, Apen, Ebony and Fir, with a possibility of Walnut, Red Oak or Beech. We’ll see. Now, cores… I’m going to go out on a limb, here. Garrick says unicorn hair for Mr Diggory, Dragon Heartstring for the two Mr’s Weasley and for the Mr’s…Black…? Black is it? Griffin or Thunderbird feathers. But… I’m not getting…” She paused and frowned. “Gentlemen…? Are you Animagi?”

“What?” Amos asked. “They’re a little young for being Animagi, don’t you think?”

“No, not at all. Children take to the change much more fluidly than adults, if they start working towards it before they get wands, it’s even better. Now, if they completed a change before getting a wand? It’s best for their wands to have a hair or feather from their magical form as their core.”

“Oh, well… I don’t think-”

“We are.” Cedric interrupted his father. “Uncle Remus wanted us to have alternate sources of protection, to just our wands.”

“Remus?” Amos asked.

“They’re young, they’re Lords of Houses and they’re going to be out of our protection for months on end, Amos. Of course, I wanted them to have as many options as possible. All of them are Animagi, common and magical. All of them are proficient at hand-to-hand fighting. All of them are trained in bladed weapons. All of them have multiple evacuation options, portkeys, shrunken brooms, knight-bus tokens and muggle options, thrown in, too. All of them can cast and send a message patronus. All of them can apparate.” Remus replied, bluntly. “I will not take chances with their lives, Amos. Not a one.”

“But… I…” Amos didn’t know how to respond.

“Well, said, sir.” Madam Blishwick applauded. “Well said. I only wish more parents thought the same. So, young sirs…? This begs the question… What are you? What are your common forms? What are your magical forms? Can I use your hair or feathers or scales in your wands? Shall we see?”

All five grinned.

“I would think so, Madam.” Mars spoke for them all. “But if we are to shift, we are going to need privacy from the public and a little more space than we have here.”

“Ooh, this is interesting. Follow me, boys, follow me.” The lady lead them through the store and through what looked like a workroom and into a tiny courtyard, hardly big enough to swing a puffskein, let alone a kneazle. She turned to a small door tucked into the shadows of the building. “Here we are.” She opened the door and lead them into a massive space. “This is my retreat. A wizard-space that only I can access. It’s two hundred feet across, by four hundred feet long and fifty feet high. Think that’s big enough? Hmm…?”

The space had a paved floor and the walls appeared to be brick, while the ceiling looked to have been vaulted with beams of a pale timber.

“I do believe it is, Madam Blishwick.” Remus looked around in approval.

“See, Uncle Remus. If we get an expanded trunk, we can put a door like this room’s in it and we’ve got plenty of library space.” Mars told them.

“Alright, I concede. But we’re here for wands, Mars. One thing at a time, please.” Remus requested.

“Indeed. Who will be going first?” Madam Blishwick asked.

“Ced’s going first.” Mars answered.

“Very well. Mr Diggory, if you’ll move to where you have sufficient room? Your common form first please. If possible, I’d like to combine your common and magical forms’ wand-core materials together.” The wand-maker directed.

Cedric took a deep breath and moved away, until he was about fifteen feet from his father. He closed his eyes and squared his shoulders, before beginning to change his shape. Two and a half years of practicing, made his shift easy and painless, but for his father, it was an awe-inspiring sight.

Quickly Cedric became a tiger, a very large tiger, that then padded over to Madam Blishwick.

“Oh, you are a handsome fellow, aren’t you?” She held out a hand and let Cedric rub his head against it. “Lovely, but before I take hair or… whatever, I’d like to see your magical form. That could change what I take from your common form, Mr Diggory. Is that alright with you?”

Cedric huffed as a tiger and moved back to an open space. He huffed again and began a second change. His legs got longer and his fur changed, it went from rich gold with black stripes to  a deep glossy black. The fur on his head and shoulders lengthened and split into feathers. Bare seconds passed and the tiger was gone, in it’s place stood a large, not-quite-mature hippogriff.

“Ah… Yes, definitely a change in materials needed. Hmm… I think… If you’ll allow, of course. But I think a crown feather entwined in a whisker and coated in ground claw shavings. Perhaps a few drops of blood to seal the wand to the donor. Yes.” She muttered to herself. “That would work nicely.” She stood up straight and looked at Cedric, she crossed to stand in front of him, before giving a genteel curtsy. Once Cedric bowed back she address him directly. “Mr Diggory, I believe I can make a wand that will suit you and answer only to you. With your permission, I would like to take a crown feather and some claw shavings from you in this form, to go with a whisker and claw shaving from your common form.”

“Madam Blishwick?” Remus stood behind Ares and Mars, with Fred and George on either side of them.

“Sir?” The wand-maker replied.

“The making of their wands? Is it… is it much more difficult to make them duplicate wands?”

“Duplicate, sir?”

“Using the same materials to make two wands, exactly the same.” Remus clarified.

“Oh, yes, I see. Well… I could, I suppose, it’s not illegal, but it’s most unusual… at least in Britain.” She huffed and paced for a few minutes. “Yes.” She said firmly, turning to face Remus, again. “Yes, I’ll make them dual wands, but I’m going to offer them something that I rarely bother with, anymore. I’ll make them two full-size wands and a miniature wand.”

“A miniature wand?” Amos asked, he’d never heard of a miniature wand.

“Yes, but I dare say it requires a little explanation. I trained under Vasily Alexeev in Russia, wand-maker to the Royal Court of Tsar Nicholas II, until the Revolution.” She explained. “Now, Vasily specialised in two things, one was wands made with Manticore Mane hair and the other was miniature wands. These are not normal wands. Yes, they work the same, but are made very differently and come in different sizes, depending on their owner’s choices. Ladies in the Royal Court would have wands anything from the size of a brooch to the length of a hat pin, while the men seemed to prefer to have a handgrip and little more than an inch of wand shaft.”

“And they work the same?” Amos asked.

“Yes, exactly the same. The only difference is with the Ministry. The British Ministry are idiots, they place a trace, not on the child itself, like most other countries do, but on the child’s wand. And only on one wand, they don’t seem to think children can handle more than one wand. Rubbish. In Russia, many children had two wands, it was quite common.”

“So, the miniature wands wouldn’t have the trace, that’s what you’re saying?” Remus asked.

“No and neither would their second full size wand.” Madam Blishwick answered.

“Hmm…” Remus thought about it, he wasn’t all that worried that the boys would abuse the privilege of a second wand, but… it wasn’t him that was giving materials from his own body to make them. “Ares, Mars, Fred, George, Cedric? Are you interested? At all?”

The five boys seemed to have some type of non-verbal conversation, before they all nodded and Ares turned Madam Blishwick.

“Madam? We would like to accept your offer. Two full size wands and a miniature wand. Plus, we have a question?” He asked.

“Of course, young sir.”

“Can feather-light charms be applied to the mini-wands?”

“Feather-light? I’ve no idea. Why? Where do you plan to holster them?” Madam Blishwick frowned at the question.

“We were thinking that at school we could have them in a holster hidden in our ties. Either that or on a chain around our necks.”

Madam Blishwick looked at Ares, her head tilted in thought. Expressions crossed her face, one after another. Finally she nodded.

“I’ve another option for you. A wrist cuff, one with a very special feature. The cuff has a type of hole in it, it holds a small, specifically sized, wizard-space pocket. I designed these as part of my Wandier’s Mastery, but since returning to England, I’ve only had two commissions to make them.”

“How’s that work, then?” Amos asked.

“The cuff can be pretty much any material it’s wearer wants. Leather, fabric, dragon-hide, metal, etc.  Let’s use young Mr Diggory as our example. Mr Diggory chooses, let’s say… a dragon-hide cuff with steel fittings. On one side of the cuff is the clasp. On the other is a cartouche, that can be decorated however he desires. That cartouche is the… cover, for lack of a better word, for a wizard-space pocket. The pocket itself is small, it is in fact, exactly the same dimensions as a wand, as that is all that it can hold. It is also tied to your magical signature, as are all my holsters, so it can shift with you, when you use your Animagus forms. The other interesting feature of the cuff, not something I designed it for, but discovered by accident, is that… when you are wearing the cuff and shift to your Animagus form, any clothing you are wearing or any items that you may be carrying, are transfigured into tiny versions. These are held in the tiny gems that I use as the rune-stones, that are the stabilising element for the wizard-space pocket, until you shift back into your human form.” She paused. “Are you following me, so far?” When all five boys and two adults nodded, she continued. “Good, good. Another security feature, that will appeal to you is the locking feature. Mr Diggory can place the cuff on his wrist and lock it. But that leaves a vulnerability, he could _[confunded](confusion%20charm)_ or Imperiused to remove it. But… if Mr Diggory’s father or someone else, say the younger Mr Weasley, were to lock Mr Diggory’s cuff, only they can remove it. Plus only Mr Diggory can access the wand in the cuff and only willingly, he can’t be forced. To access the wand, you inly have to tap it with a finger and pulse your magic into it and the wand is partially ejected from the pocket, enough to grasp, anyway. It’s all about intent.” She smiled.

“Oh, brilliant!” Mars beamed. “A normal full size wand, with the trace. A normal full size wand, no trace, in a wrist cuff. And a miniature wand in an ankle cuff.”

“No. The miniature in a cuff that looks and works like a watch.” Ares corrected. “If anyone finds out about the cuffs, they’re going to be thinking about decorative cuffs, not watches that work.”

Madam Blishwick blinked. “Slytherin.” She stated.

“Gryffindor.” Ares corrected. “All of us.”

“Really? I would have thought otherwise.”

“Everyone does, but we know better.” The chocolate haired boy grinned. “I’ve also a question about these cuffs.”

“Go ahead.”

“Can we buy them as gifts for people? That and the mini-wands?”

“What would be the purpose of that?”

“I know a couple of people that would really appreciate them.” Was all Ares said.

“Hmm…” Madam Blishwick hummed.

“I’m prepared to pay now. The same bundle of items as for us. Two full size custom wands. One miniature custom wand. One inner-arm holster, in dragon-hide, the usual protections. One decorative wrist cuff. One wrist cuff camouflaged by a working watch-face, we’ll provide that. I will aalso provide drawings of designs, at least two of which will be feminine.” He cocked an eyebrow in challenge.

Madam Blishwick studied him for a few seconds, then burst into laughter.

“You’ll pay for eight?” She asked, still chuckling.

“Meh, make it ten. They’ll make great Yule presents.” Ares grinned.

“That’s a lot of money, lad.” She warned.

“How much?” Ares’s eyes narrowed.

“My usual custom wands are ʛ10 a piece. Arm-holsters are ʛ5 each. Wrist cuffs are ʛ50.”

“That’s ʛ135. Not acceptable.” Ares stated bluntly. "After all, we're providing the core-materials for the wands."

“Ah… Ares?” Amos started.

“Let him go, Amos. Ares knows what he’s doing.” Remus pulled Amos aside quietly.

“You sure, Remus?”

“Yes. Ares is fine.”

“Your counter offer?” Like Ares, Madam Blishwick ignored Amos and Remus.

“ʛ100p per bundle, plus the five of us will provide you with two feathers from our magical Animagus form. One crown feather and one wing feather.” Ares offered.

“Well, now that would depend on what you four lads are, wouldn’t it?”

“Ced as you can see is a hippogriff. Mars and I are both griffins. Fred and George are PyreHawks.” Ares’ response was quite smug.

“Griffins? PyreHawks? Oh, my… I…” She stammered for a few moments, before nodding. “ʛ100 for each bundle, total of ten bundles, plus two feathers from your magical Animagus forms, as stated. One crown feather and one wing feather. As payment for the items stated. Two full size custom wands. One miniature custom wand. One inner-arm holster, in dragon-hide, the usual protections. One decorative wrist cuff. One wrist cuff camouflaged as a working watch, which you will provide. Designs for the cuffs, also provided. Please be aware that cuffs won’t happen today, the rune-stones on them have to be set on the dark of the moon and charged on a full moon. Instructions on charging and binding them to your magical signatures, will be included. You’re very lucky that tonight is dark of the moon, so I can set the rune-stones tonight. But the full size wands will only take an hour or so… Once I have payment.”

Ares grinned. “Uncle Remus is our Father-Regent, he’ll authorise the payment.”

“Of course, Ares.” Remus nodded.

“Let me get the paperwork out of the way, then I’ll get some trays, while the boys shift. I’ll collect the materials needed and at the very least we can get the two full size wands completed this morning.” Madam Blishwick suggested.

“And if you’ve some scrap parchment or paper, I can draw up the designs for the decorative cartouches. And I’ll get the watches sent to you later today.” Ares was almost wriggling in excitement.

“Of course.” Madam Blishwick lead them over to a small desk and conjured seats for them all.

George sidled up to Ares. “Who’re you thinking of, Ares?”

“Oh, Sprite, without a doubt.” Ares answered.

“Yep, can see her knowing. The other four?”

“I’m thinking Tempest, Scimitar, Bouncer and maybe... Pinfeathers?” The last was offered hesitantly.

“Oohh… yeah… forgot about her. Whoops. Don’t tell her, I forgot? Please?” George begged.

“I wouldn’t worry about it, Forge. The chances of her remembering are slim, it’d be great if she did, but I’m not counting on it.” Ares sighed. “Sprite? Whether she remembers or not… she’ll know.”

“And Scimitar?”

“It’ll be better for him this time around, I’ll make sure of it. These vouchers? Even if I leave it until their first Yule at Hogwarts…?”

“No, don’t wait. Send ‘em this Yule. That way they’ve got time to get them checked out and they’ll know the vouchers are genuine.” George corrected.

“True. But I was kinda hoping to get them a few things. Wands. trunks. ChatterBowls when you finish them. DropBoxes.”

“I’d get everything together, now and wait on sending it, until they get to the Express. I can’t see Scimitar’s grandmother accepting all of what we want him to have. Not really.” Fred joined them. "You remember what she was like."

“Hmm… I’ll have to think about it. I know Bouncer is in our year, but Scimitar, Tempest and Pinfeathers are two below us and Sprite a year below them. Well... I suppose we've time to work it out. Maybe a contract to cover us purchasing wands on their behalf?”

While he’d be chatting with George and Fred, Ares had been carefully drawing out the designs he wanted. Wings. Pairs of feathered wings in a circular shape. Two pairs delicate and fragile looking. Two pairs edged with flames. Two pairs broad and strong. Two pairs heavy lined tribal-style. And two pairs with refine line sketches.

“Madam Blishwick?” Ares offered. “Here are my designs.”

“Good, lad. Your Uncle is finished with the paperwork and I’m ready to harvest your materials. If you gentlemen would like to begin by shifting into your magical forms, I’ll start there.”

“Yes, ma'am.” All five boys answered.

A slightly uncomfortable twenty minutes later and Madam Blishwick had five silver lined boxes, one for each boy and ten crystal phials, one for each feather the boys had given.

“Thank you gentlemen.” She said. “Now, about the extra bundles? When can I expect the donors to drop in?”

“They probably won’t, Madam Blishwick. I’ll check, but more than likely, they’ll forward the materials to Uncle Remus, who will bring them to you.” Ares said.

“Hmm…” She pursed her lips.

“If you would be so kind as to tell us exactly what is needed, we will see that it is procured, as safely as possible.” Remus added. "We'll also put contracts in place to clarify our intentions and to ensure the purchases are legal and above-board."

Madam Blishwick huffed a long drawn-out breath. “Very well.” She huffed again. “This is most irregular. I am assuming that they are also Animagi? Feline or canine for common? And what of their magical forms?”

“Common forms are… two types of domestic feline, a member of the weasel family, a domestic canine and a member of the felidae or big cat, family. Magical forms include… another Griffin, a Thunderbird, a Pegasus, an Occamy and a Feather Crested Nundu.” Ares replied formally.

“F-f-feather C-crested **_Nundu?!_** ” She gasped, her hand pausing in mid-air as she reached for parchment and quill.

When Ares nodded, she took a shaky breath and responded. “For each wand I will require a certain number of things. From their magical Animagus form… A single, undamaged crown feather. An apothecary’s [scruple-weight](1.296gm) of claw, as long as it comes from the one paw, foot or limb, it’s fine. From their common Animagus form… A single undamaged facial whisker. The same amount of claw as for their magical form. And to set it all, I need enough blood to coat each feather and whisker with three [minims](1%20minim%20=%200.061610ml) of blood and to mix the same amount with each claw after powdering them.” She was writing as explained. “Each item is to be placed in an untainted, clearly labelled, crystal phial, and the phials for each person are to be kept together.”

“We can do that. Uncle Remus? Can you make a copy of my drawings please? That way, I can label each bundle with a matching wing symbol, of what I drew today.” Ares explained.

“That would be quite helpful, Mr Black.” Madam Blishwick smiled at him, as she spoke. “For now, I’ll get to work on your wands, if you come back in two hours, I should have the full size wands complete. But the cuffs and the miniature wands…? Friday? Monday would be better.”

“When we return, we’ll leave our floo-address with you.” Remus offered. “You can just floo us when they’re ready for collection.”

“Thank you, Mr Lupin. See you shortly, gentlemen.” She ushered them from the shop and turned to the new materials. “Oh sweet Merlin, a Feather Crested Nundu.”

 

Outside the shop, Amos looked at his son and the other boys, before turning to Remus.

“Well, I must say, there were times I was hesitant, where I wondered if... if leaving Ced with you... was the best thing for him, but after that…” He dipped his head in the direction of the shop. “… not any more. Things I didn’t even consider, you’ve thought of and made plans for. Thank you.” He patted Remus on the shoulder even as he wrapped an arm around Cedric. “What’s next? I still have a little over three hours before I have to head over to the Ministry.”

“Ares? Are wands, sorted?” Remus asked.

“Almost, Uncle Remus, I still have to get the watches for the cuffs, but The Fob Chain is out in the main alley. We can stop there after we finish with the trunks.”

“Alright, then. Mars? You’re up, cub.” Remus nodded then ruffled Mars’ hair. “Where first?”

“Yes, Uncle Remus. Trickett’s Trunks are just over there.” He pointed. “I want to get expanded trunks.”

“Well, lead the way, Mars.” Amos just shook his head, these boys were so prepared, when they turned their attention to the Ministry, it was going to be theirs for the taking.

Mars grinned at his foster brother’s father and taking the man’s other hand, dragged him in the right direction. They were through the door and up to the counter before he stopped pulling.

“Amos?” The wizard behind the counter looked from Amos to Cedric and Mars. “Good heavens…” He muttered. “Is it that time, already?” The question was directed to Amos.

“Indeed it is, Lawrence.” He shook the man’s hand and turned to Cedric and Mars. “Ced, Mars? This is Mr Lawrence Trickett. You’ll need to tell him what you want in a trunk.”

“Mars, is it? Don’t look like yours, Amos?”

“Oh, no. Since Sarah… well… Cedric lives with Mars, his brother, Uncle and two foster brothers, now.” Amos told Mr Trickett.

“Ah, I see. Alrighty, then. Hogwarts this coming year, I guess? So, you’ll be wanti-”

“No, Lawrence. They won’t be having the standard trunks.”

“No?” Mr Trickett raised an eyebrow. “Then, what exactly are they going to have?”

“No idea, old boy, no idea. Mars is in charge of trunks, I understand. Mars, lad, why don’t you tell Mr Trickett what you’re after.” Amos encouraged the boy to step forward.

“Mars, huh? Right, then, Mars. Trunks are my specialty, what’s your desire, my lad?”

Mars looked at the older wizard, he hadn’t changed much since Sirius had got his first trunk for Hogwarts.

Mars looked at him and let a look of incredibly **_fake_**  innocence settle on his face. “Trunks, of course…” He gave his most puppy dog look and blinked at the man.

Lawrence Trickett looked at the boy’s face and he too, blinked, while he tried to smother his amusement.

“Trunks, huh? Well, I’d say you’ve come to the right place, young sir. But I will need a little more than just ‘Trunks, of course’. What kind of trunks?”

“Custom trunks.” Mars dropped the façade and became, well, Sirius (not to be mistaken with serious). “We want specially made trunks. They must be vertical, have a permanent expanded capacity, have similar proportions as a door and open like one, have shrinking and enlarging capabilities for various different sizes, feather-weight charms, have re-usable sticking features and multiple security features.”

Lawrence blinked in surprise, the boy’s requests were quite unusual, particularly for a school trunk.

“Security features?” He asked.

“Blood bonding. Magical signature bonding. Multiple, physically applied, magical signatures, I mean. Password protections. Anti-theft with return capabilities. Predetermined-location banishing portkeys and lastly, muggle notice-me-nots.” Mars grinned. “Think you can make that?”

“That’s a pretty specific selection, young Slytherin.”

“Not Slytherin.” Mars corrected. “Gryffindor. And it is.” He grinned Sirius-ly.

“Not a Slytherin? You’ve certainly got the mind for it.”

“Realistically, Mr Trickett? We’ve studied the founders and while we’d fit in all four houses, we do tend to let the Gryffindor side win out, just a little. We make a rash decision and then use our Ravenclaw tendencies to work out how to achieve it, followed by ‘Puff-like hard work to see it done and our Slytherin side to make everyone think the whole thing was well thought-out and planned before we’d actually started.” Mars’ grin grew.

Lawrence looked at Mars in horror, before turning to Amos.

“What the hell sort of house, have you sent your boy to live in, Amos?” Lawrence demanded.

“The sort that he fits into perfectly. Not only does he participate in their stunts, but from what Remus tells me, Ced puts as many ideas forward as they do.” Amos laughed.

“Oh, good grief.” Lawrence rubbed his hand over his face. “You mentioned others, how many trunks are we looking at, here?”

As he spoke the shop door opened.

“You left us in the middle of the Alley, Mars. Not nice.” Lawrence blinked at the boy who spoke, looking from one to the other and back again.

“Twins?”

A tall sandy haired man entered behind Mars’ twin, at his heels another set of twins.

“Two sets of twins?” He turned to the sandy haired man. “You poor soul.”

Remus laughed. “It does get interesting at times, but on the whole, I quite enjoy it. I do, however, feel for McGonagall, having these five in her house, is going to be quite the ride.”

“I can imagine.” Lawrence glanced at Mars, before addressing his question to Remus. “How many trunks were you after?”

“Mars? Just you five or did you want to get trunks for the others?” Remus in turn asked Mars.

“Do you mind, Uncle Remus? We’d prefer to get all of them, now, that way we can all be ready for September.” Mars ducked his head a little, while he might have adult-Sirius’ memories, he was now a child and had been for a few years. And no matter how mature he could be, sometimes it showed.

“So, ten?” Remus ruffled Mars’ hair to make the boy look up at him.

“Yes, please.” Mars gave his Uncle a grateful smile.

“Ten? All with the lad’s requirements?” Lawrence asked. “That’s going to set you back a hefty purse.” He warned.

“If you can match Mars’ requirements, to the quality we want? It’ll be worth it.” Remus nodded.

“Right…” Lawrence took a deep breath. “Young Mars? Let’s start with dimensions, shall we?” He pulled out a Special-Order form and reached for a quill.

“Yes, Mr Trickett. At full size, six foot tall, by three foot wide, by one foot deep.” Mars answered and Lawrence made a note in the appropriate place.

“You said shrinking and enlarging to various sizes? What sizes?”

“A total of four sizes. Full size, as stated. Half size is three foot tall, a foot and a half wide, by six inches deep. Quarter size is a foot and half tall, nine inches wide and three inches deep. Pocket size is six inches tall, three wide and one deep. Literally pocket sized.”

“Vertical opening, you said?”

“Vertical and to open like a door.”

“Hmm.. knobs and locks recessed until security’s appeased?”

“Yes, please.” That was something Mars hadn’t thought of.

“Feather-weight. And sticking? Explain that.” Lawrence ordered.

“We want to be able to stick them to a wall, but still have the ability to move them from one wall to another. We’ll need to access them at home to set them up the same we want, then at school, we’ll put them up in our dorms, but come holidays and end of year? We don’t want to have to re-apply new charms, every time we want to move them.”

“Ah. Fair enough. Now, your security features? Blood bonding. Magical signature bonding, with physical application, wasn’t it?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Right. Password protection, one password or multiple?”

“One override with single individual passwords.”

“Anti-theft with return capabilities. Muggle notice-me-not charms. And… there was something else… what was it?”

“A predetermined location banishing-portkey.” Mars recited.

“Yes, that was it. Was there anything else?”

“Expanded capacity. With ventilation, lighting and temperature controls.”

“Oh, yes. How big?” What on Earth were these boys planning on doing?

“Fifteen by thirty feet with fifteen foot ceiling. Timber floors, plaster walls and ceiling, please.”

“What on Earth are you lot going to do with trunks like that? Take over the Ministry?”

“Eventually.” Mars grinned.

Lawrence blinked.

“What…?” He asked again.

“But not just yet.” Mars answered.

“I... I…” How was he supposed to react to that?

“Plenty of time to worry about that, later, my Fiends. School comes first.” Remus reminded the boys.

“Never mind, Lawrence, you’ll have plenty of time to get used to the idea, like we did.” Amos laughed. “As they said, school comes first. And that means they need trunks.”

Lawrence shook himself, blinked a few times and shuddered, before he pulled himself back to the business at hand.

“Oh, gods… Right… Trunks, yes…” He sighed and started to tally the costs. “Trunks. Made to your dimensions, the physical trunk will cost you ʛ5. Then there’s the charm and rune-work. Let’s see… four shrink and reverts, security recessed fittings, feather-weight, re-applicable stick-on’s, multiple sig bonds, multiple passwords, override password, anti-theft and return, banishing key, atmospheric controls and notice-me-nots.” He looked up, eyes wide. “ʛ62… Tha’s a bloody ‘spensif trrew’nk.” Lawrence’s accent came out strong and almost undecipherable.

“I’d rather spend the money, now, than have to replace their trunks later.” Remus shrugged. “As Father-Regent, I’ll only authorise one trunk for school, they better make it a good one. Any others, they’ll have get for themselves.

“I see… And a timeframe?” Lawrence asked.

“As soon as it can possibly be done. Yes, we get that it’s only April, but there’s so much we have to do. We’ve still got to get the wizard-space rooms made and installed. The potions labs need to be ordered, completed and furbished. The libraries. The greenhouses. The furniture…” Mars trailed off.

“The physical trunks, I can have done… probably by the end of the day. But the charm and rune-work? No. Not on ten trunks. The earliest I can manage would be… Close of business, Monday, but I’d prefer to test them overnight, so…? Could we do collection, on Tuesday morning? How does that sound?”

Mars sighed. “If that’s when they’ll be ready, then that’s when they’ll be ready. We can’t really collect before then, can we?” He grimaced.

“I’m sorry, but no, not with the extra features you want.” Lawrence replied.

“Then Tuesday it is.” Mars replied. “Uncle Remus? After you’ve done the gold bit, can we go to Bags and More? With the trunks in progress, the only other thing on my list is a satchel.”

“We can do that.”

“Ta. Ares? Who’s next?” Mars asked his brother.

“Ced and Fred. Ced’s in charge of books and equipment. Fred’s got ingredients and incidentals. And both have uniforms.” Ares answered.

Lawrence shook his head in disbelief.

“Amos? Will ye do’s a fa’ver? Warn us a’fore dey go affer de Min’stry.” He begged.

“Oh, Lawrence…” Amos grinned. “They’re not that bad. They’re good lads.”

“They might be, but I don’ wanna know aboot it.” The trunk maker objected.

“Fair enough. I’ll do my best to give some notice.”

“Much appreciated.” The accent was beginning to soften, again. “So, payment?”

“That would be my department.” Remus lifted a hand… then paused. “After the boys are happy with the price.” He turned to Mars. “Well?”

“Yes, Uncle Remus.” The boy answered. “ʛ62, you said? Per trunk?”

“Yes…” Lawrence replied hesitantly.

“Surely there’s a better price? Considering that we’re not getting just one or two trunks…? ʛ620 seems a bit steep, perhaps a bulk discount?” Mars responded with a thoughtful look.

“I suppose I could… What’s your proposed decrease?” Lawrence lost the hesitation, but was still cautious in how he replied.

“Oh, nothing too extreme… say, drop the charges for some of the more… _common_  charms. Like the feather-weight, password protection, password override, the shrink and reverts. Bring it down to ʛ50 per trunk.”

“Oh, now, that a bit of a drop. I’m not sure about that. I was think a little more of ʛ60, that’s still a nice round number, without shorting the time and effort I’ll have to put into yer trunks.” Lawrence countered.

“That’s hardly fair, other than the expansion, the shrink and reverts are the only additions that are going to take any actual thinking about, the rest have a pre-set runic base.”

“True… but…”

“A compromise, then? Halfway between my suggested price and yours. ʛ55 per trunk, ʛ550 for the ten.” Mars tilled his head and held out a hand.

“Agreed. ʛ550 fer ten trunks.” Lawrence sighed, nodded and shook Mars hand. “Remind me never to bargin wit yer boys, agin.” Lawrence told Amos.

Amos laughed. “This lot got out of Blishwick’s with a ʛ35-a-person discount, Lawrence. You got off lightly.”

“Bloody hell! Und yer dinnae thenk ter warn meh?!” Lawrence squawked. “So much fer bein’ cousins’, huh?”

“Third cousins, twice removed, Lawrence, on Sarah’s side. As you well know. As for warning you? Consider it payback, I seem to recall you failing to warn Sarah about your father trying to set a contract in place for his granddaughter and Cedric.” Amos started out amused, but finished on a colder tone.

“Ah… I’d forgotten tha’. Fair ‘nuff, Amos, fair ‘nuff.” Lawrence turned back to Mars and a waiting Remus. “ʛ550 fer the ten trunks, pick up on Tuesday. Not before 10am, though, I’ll need to get yer trunks’ portkeys certified and the portkey office dain’t open a’fore nine.”

“Certainly, Mr Trickett.” Remus held up a bulky signet ring, still attached to his belt by a long chain.

“Alright, then.” Lawrence offered over the order form and Remus pressed the signet to it and pulsed his magic into it, leaving behind a softly glowing impression. “Thank ye muchly, Mr Lupin.” He said as Remus tucked the signet away.

All of them could hear the trunk maker sigh in relief as they headed out the door. Ares and Mars looked at each other and snickered, Fred, George and Cedric made no attempt to smother their laughter, while Remus and Amos just shook their heads. The group moved away from the shop and tucked themselves into a bend in the alley, their major plans for the day had been bombarda-ed before they’d really got going.

“Alright, lads. If trunks and wands won’t be ready for a bit, what else are we doing, today?” Amos asked.

The five Fiends bent their heads together and a hasty debate raged. Eventually all five nodded and they turned to face the two adults.

“Well?” Remus asked.

“Bags and More, please. We can still get our satchels, today… I hope we can, if not we can order them… and Ares has to get the watches for Madam Blishwick. That’s it. Anything else can wait.”

“All right. Amos? Why don’t I take Ares to The Fob Chain and you take the rest of the boys to Bags and More. It should be pretty straight forward to get watches. Mars’ choice of satchel, on the other hand…?” Remus suggested.

“Of course, Remus. We’ll wait for you there, shall ?” Amos asked.

“Yes, I’ll be there in time to do payment. You boys behave for Amos, please?”

“Yes, Uncle Remus.” Four voices chanted.

 

**Wednesday 24 th of May 1989**

“Well?” Fred looked up as Cedric asked the question, just in time to see Ares flop onto the grass between them.

“They’re ready.” He sighed. “Unca Remus took one to Hogsmeade and Unca Amos took one to Diagon. Unca Remus got us chocolate from Honeydukes and Unca Amos got us some ice-cream from Fortescue’s.” The smallest Fiend muttered.

“So we can cross DropBoxes off of our list?” Fred asked.

“Yep. All done.”

“Wicked. We can write to Uncle Remus or Uncle Amos.” Fred blinked. “What about Bill? Can we give him one?”

“I was thinking…” Cedric paused to entice his brothers’ interest.

“Yes, oh mighty Talon?” George asked, he and Mars joining them.

Cedric frowned at George but answered him, all the same. “I was thinking. Do we know if the Boxes will work at Hogwarts? Ares?”

“They did last time round.” Ares answered.

“Right, so no reason to think they won’t, this time. Good. I was thinking that we might wanna just have one box in the dorm and have it match here, in the office. Then have a Box for Bill, one for Dad, Uncle Remus will forward our letters, I’m sure of it. And we can some set up, ready to go, for Lee, Mione and Luna. Maybe look at selling them to the other students?” Cedric went on.

“But that’d mean we’d have to bring Dumbledore in on it.” Ares whined.

“No, I was thinking the Heads of House. Have a set of shelves in the common rooms or the hallway to the head's office, for the Boxes, students can send letters anytime, but have to have homework finished to open their Box and get a letter back.”

“Ooh, Professor McGonagall would like that.” Mars chirped.

“I think Master Snape would, too.” George added thoughtfully.

“It’s something to think about.” Ares nodded.

 

**Monday 17 th of July 1989**

“Okay, boys? That’s the last of it? Yes?” Remus begged.

“Yes, Uncle Remus.” Cedric laughed.

“Master Snape will help us with the lab setup on Saturday, on the condition that we treat the trunk labs the same as we do the lab here. With only two new rules. No experimental brewing without notice. And.. No inviting other students in, without notice to our head of house.”

“Hmm… Sounds reasonable.” Remus nodded.

“I want one more trip to Abernathy's-” Remus groaned at Ares comment, “-but Bill’s taking me for that.” Remus sighed in relief, he was so over shopping, he just wanted to stay home and have decent cup of tea. “Other than that…? George is still working on the ChatterBowls and we’ll need to get fresh ink and top up on parchment, before school, but that’s it.”

 

**Tuesday 29 th of August 1989**

“Yes!” The yell filled the house.

“What?” Remus came running. “What is it?”

“I got it. I think I finally got it, Uncle Remus.” George crowed.

“What?”

“The ChatterBowls, I got them working.”

“Really?” Remus smiled. “Fabulous.”

“I just need to test them for range and we’re good to go.” George smiled back.

“So, I’m guessing you want me to apparate to Hogsmeade, so you can check it’ll make the distance?”

“Please?” George pulled out the puppy dog eyes, something that happened rarely, as all five Fiends knew it didn’t actually work on their Uncle.

“Hmm… You get Ares to agree to making me two Crazyberry and Apple tarts and two Blackcurrant cheesecakes and I’ll even duck into the hidden passage under Honeydukes and test it inside Hogwarts’ wards.” Remus offered.

George’s eyes lit up and his smile became even broader. “Deal.” He answered quickly. “Follow me, good sir, and I shall outfit you.” George stated grandly and lead Remus into the boys’ workroom.

On a bench sat a pair of simple looking bowls, about four inches across and an inch deep. In the base of the bowls a collection of runes were carefully etched and a second set decorated the each rim.

“Okay, so to make a call…? You drop a pinch of floo powder into the bowl, on the runes. Then you touch your finger to a rune on the rim and hold it there for a count of three. Wizards can then use a candle or an  _[incendio](fire%20making%20charm) _to light the powder, muggles will have to use a match. Make sure to hold your finger on a rim-rune while you light the powder, otherwise… the call’s got nowhere to connect to. The runes on the rim are the identification runes for the other bowls linked to the bowl you are using. To disconnect the call, simply blow the flames out.”

“Interesting…” Remus studied the bowl nearest him. “And it only works for sound?”

“Yep. And only with a bowl with linking runes.”

“And how do I know if a bowl is linked?”

“See here, this rune in the base, it can only accept calls from bowls that have that rune on the rim and vice versa.”

“But these don’t have runes, they have shapes.” Remus frowned, pointing at a drawing of a set of two bowls.

“Yeah those two are for Mione and her parents, when the Bowls are working properly. The tooth represents her parents and the book is for Mione. The runes are tiny and will be laid inside the shading of the book spine and the shadow under tooth. Ares drew them, did the same for Luna, Ced, Bill and one for here.”

“And you plan to sell these to other students?”

“Eventually, yeah. Won’t happen until at least Yule. We have to give the professors a chance to realise how advanced we are, before we start to introduce things. The only things we will sell straight of the train will be the scroll covers and the study compendiums. Everything else will have to wait and then be brought in, in stages.”

“Fair enough. Now you have baking to bargain for and I have a cup of tea waiting for me.” Remus ruffled George’s hair.

 

**Friday 1 st of September 1989**

“Right, boys. You have your Heir Rings. You have fresh ink and extra parchment. You’ve topped up the floo jar for your Chatterbowls. You’ve got your satchels. Are you ready?” Remus asked.

“Yes, Uncle Remus.” Five voices answered.

“Good, good. Ced? Your Dad’s going to meet us on the platform, so let’s get a wriggle on.” Remus suggested. “To the Cauldron, please.”

 

Two highly emotional hours later, the five Fiends settled themselves into a compartment, all slightly nervous about what was to come. Yes, they all had the memories of their older selves, but with the changes they’d made, there was uncertainty about the future. They all hoped that it would be a better future and were prepared to work their butts off to make it the best they could. But that was years away, for now…? They had to get through seven years at Hogwarts.

Ten minutes before the Express was due to leave, Fred spotted a familiar face. He nudged George, who tapped Cedric, who poked Ares who swatted Mars’ leg. All five glanced at the open door to the compartment and the boy with milk-chocolate skin, that hesitated in the corridor.

Seeing all five looking at him, the boy gave them a half-hearted smile and nodded towards the compartment with a questioning look.

“Sure.” Fred chirped. “There’s plenty of room, come on in.”

“Thanks.” The boys replied quietly. “I’m Lee, Lee Jordan.”

“Pleased to meetcha, Lee.” Fred smiled at the boy he remembered sharing a dorm with. “I’m Gred and these are me brothers. Forge, Cedric, Ares and Mars.”

“Hi.” Lee might have spoken but he seemed a little confused. “Are you looking forward to school?”

“We are.” Ares assured him.

“It sounds wicked.” George added.

“What house do you think you’ll end up in?”

“Oh, we’re Gryffindors.” Cedric answered.

“Yeah, no Hat’s going to split us up.” Mars promised.

“Ah…?” Lee asked. “Who told you about the Sorting Hat?”

The five boys froze.

“Lee…?” George asked.

“Yes, George.” Lee answered.

“Two questions, mate?”

“Yeah?”

“How’d you know my name is **_George_**? And…? Who said anything about a **_Sorting_** Hat?” George asked.

Lee blinked and shut his eyes in denial.

“Did you… do you remember us?” Fred asked, hesitating and changing the question halfway through.

Lee opened his eyes and looked a the five boys.

“Ah… I dream…” He whispered. “About... things. About people. About places.” Let his head fall back against the seat. “I’ve dreamt about you… or some of you. Cedric, Fred and George. Them I know, but Ares and Mars? Nope, not them.”

“Really? Cool. That’s a way better excuse, than outing ourselves to Uncle Remus via a pensieve.” Ares said excitedly.

“Uncle Remus?” Lee sat forward, quickly, looking at Ares. “Who are you?”

“I’m Ares.” Ares studied Lee hard for a few seconds. “But I remember being someone else.”

Lee’s brows lifted. “Yeah? Who?”

Ares grinned. “What did she say? ‘You’re the youngest Seeker in a Century’, I think it was.”

Lee’s eyes widened comically. “You’re Har-”

“No, not anymore.” Ares cut him off. “But I was.”

Lee sat there in shock, blinking and moving his mouth, but not making a sound. Minutes passed before he came around. He turned to Mars. “And you? Who **_were_**  you?”

Mars jabbed a thumb in Ares direction. “His third year? There was a reason for the campout in the Great Hall. I got into the tower.”

Fred watched Lee, he hadn’t thought it possible for the boy’s eyes to widen that much further, but widen they did.

“You’re… you’re… but… you’re…?”

“Pleased to meet you, Lee. I’m Mars Black and that’s my brother, Ares. Our **_father_** , Sirius Black was proven innocent when Peter Pettigrew lost control of his Animagus form and shifted, right in the middle of Diagon Alley. Subsequent questioning under veritaserum, proved that he’d been Uncle James and Aunt Lily’s Secret Keeper and our father was posthumously declared innocent.” Mars explained.

“Oh, god.” Lee whispered.

“Oh, hey, I almost forgot. We have goodies for you.” George bounced in his seat.

“What…?” Even after sharing a dorm with the Weasley twins for almost seven years, he still had trouble following when one of them went off on a tangent and knowing George for another ten, hadn’t been any help.

“We were bad boys, this last summer.” Cedric gave a sly smile.

“We broke into Hogwarts.” Mars added, in a sing-song voice.

“Why…?” Did Lee really want to know?

“Ares needed to speak to Lady Hogwarts.” Fred said and Lee’s heart twinged in pain at seeing his friend.

“Why?”

Instead of answering instantly, Ares pulled a satchel down from the rack above them and reaching into it dragged out a shrunken trunk. He placed it on the floor between the seats and tapped a sigil on one side of the trunk, a count of three and Lee watched it enlarge to the size of a large briefcase. Ares opened it and glanced at the door, then at Mars, who got up and closed the door and pulled down the blinds. A smile of thanks and Ares disappeared into the briefcase.

A minute and a half later, he emerged.

“That is so cool.” He crowed. “Everything is still in the same place. Here.” He thrust a satchel at Lee.

“Uh… what’s this?”

“That’s got your stuff in it.” Ares said, like it was something Lee should have expected.

“What stuff? Lee shook his head a little in confusion.

“Oh, right, I didn’t explain, did I?” Ares smacked himself on forehead. “Right, we remember. All five, now six, of us, we all remember bring adults. So… we took steps. In that satchel is a shrunken trunk, just like mine.” As he spoke he re-shrunk the trunk and tucked it back into his own satchel. “The trunk is special, Lee, it’s got an expanded capacity and a number of wizard-space rooms. Library, potions lab, garden, pool, greenhouse, that sort of thing. It also has a special door, a door to a room that has a number of doors that go to other trunks. Mine, Mars’, Fred’s, George’s, Cedric’s, Sprite’s, Tempest’s and Pinfeather’s trunks. Oh, and our house. Also in there are custom wands, but not any wands, they're made with feathers, claws and whiskers from you Animagus forms. That’s why we broke into Hogwarts.”

“The Room of Requirement. You required them. But…? I thought, if you got the Room to provide it, you couldn’t take it out of the Room?” Lee frowned.

“You can’t, but… If you change something’s form or state of being, you can. I didn’t ask the room to provide the materials, I asked it to provide you, unconscious, in your Animagus forms, first one then the other. I took the feathers, claws, whiskers and blood, directly from you, then had the Room send you home and wake you up. We then took those materials to Blishwick’s and Madam Blishwick made your wands. All three of them.” Ares clarified.

“Three?” Lee blurted.

“Three. One, the one in the forearm holster, has the trace on it. The second, is in a decorative wrist cuff, that only you can access. The third is a miniature wand, it's in a second cuff that looks like a wrist watch.” Ares went on.

“There’s also a DropBox and ChatterBowl to send home to your folks, don’t do it straight away, though. We’re thinking that about Yule, is good. By then, the professors will have worked out that we are way advanced, compared to the rest of the firsties and be more likely to make allowances.” George warned.

“Can’t see Snape doing that.” Lee muttered.

“He’s not so bad, this time ‘round. He’s been our tutor for potions for the last few years and he’s not sure that we won’t end up in Slytherin. He can’t attack us, we might be snakes. He doesn’t know that we’re aiming for Gryffindor, again.” Fred laughed.

“So what’s to stop him from turning on you, now?” Lee asked.

“He knows what we can do and I don’t think he wants it pointed at him.” Fred grinned.

“I think he doesn’t want to risk us turning on the DE kids.” Ares said.

“Hmph… I think Ha-Ares is more likely to be right.” Lee grimaced. “That’s going to be hard to get my head around. Ugh…” He grunted.

“Call me Shadow, you did before.” Ares winced at the lost look on Lee’s face. “Lee… Lee, we’re safe, now. We-”

“Are we? Really? What about… about… What about **_him_**? Are we safe from **_him_**?” Lee demanded.

“Yes.” Ares said bluntly. “We are. Mars and I dealt with him. Lady Hogwarts helped.”

“Lady Hogwarts did it and we helped a little, you mean?” Mars corrected.

Ares shrugged. “Yeah, that’s probably more accurate.”

“What…?” Lee just stared at them.

“He’s gone, Lee. Lady Hogwarts did it, she took his… treasures and she dumped them in a six foot tall phial of basilisk venom and left them there for weeks. Then she dumped them on the Headmaster’s desk. Empty. Clean.”

“And yo-… the Seeker? What did she do to him?” Lee was one of the few that knew that Harry had been a Horcruxe.

“She de-aged him, back before it happened.” Mars answered.

“How do you know it worked?” Lee was suspicious, it sounded too… too easy.

“A ghastly screaming noise, his head bleeding everywhere and a cloud of greenish-black gunk? Kinda obvious it worked.” Mars winced at the memory.

 _Okay, maybe not so easy_. Lee thought, before something else occurred to him. “And now what?”

“Now we live the lives that we were denied. All of us.” Fred answered this time.

“What if someone finds out?”

“They’ll look like idiots. Our blood identity tests were done at Gringotts. Lady Hogwarts got Lady Magic involved.”

“What makes you so sure?” Now Lee was just curious.

“Cause… how else did you get here? You? Fred and George? Cedric?” Mars asked.

“I did say to Lady Hogwarts that it would be kinda good to have others, to not be alone. She said she’d ask Lady Magic.” Ares added.

“And here we are.” Cedric shrugged.

“You remember?” Lee focused on Cedric.

“Yes, Lee, I remember you and them, charming the mirror in the prefect’s bathroom to insult everyone that walked into the room. How the blazes they got into the bathroom, no one ever figured out.” Cedric huffed.

“We followed Perfect Prefect Percy, of course.” Lee grinned. “Alright, let’s say, I’m okay with this. What the long prank?”

Fred and George looked to Ares and Mars. Mars nodded and Ares gave a ‘go ahead’ gesture.

“Well, it’s like this… We gonna take over the Ministry… from the inside. And then we're going to...” Fred gave a slightly manic grin and began to explain.

 

Afterwards, Lee was quiet, not the antisocial type of quiet, but the thoughtful, contemplative, type of quiet. And because Fred and George pointed that out to their foster brothers, the boys left Lee to his thinking, only interrupting when it was time to put their robes on. As the Express squealed to a halt at Hogsmeade station, Lee spoke.

“Alright, I’m in. I’ll take on the Wizarding Wireless Network, again.” He stated. “But I doubt Cedric’s gonna need much help. You lot, however…?” He pointed at the two sets of twins. “Shadow? You’ll have to write up a list of misinformation targets and subjects for me. No hurry, tomorrow night will be fine.”

“Already done, I’ll give it to you, once we reach the dorms.” Ares said.

“Gryffindor?” Lee asked.

“Gryffindor.” The other five boys answered.

 

Filing into the Great Hall behind Professor McGonagall, the five Fiends, plus one, looked around trying to hold their emotions in check, all of them remembered and the Hall and death were closely linked in their minds.

Cedric remembered the look of sheer terror on a young Harry Potter’s face, when his name came out of the Goblet of Fire. Fred remembered the fear and sadness on so many faces as Dumbledore told them how Cedric had died. George remembered holding a dead Fred in his arms and screaming at the loss of half his soul. Ares remembered the Weasley family holding onto their own, trying to make sense of Fred’s loss. Mars remembered watching Ares’ memories in the Room, waiting for the golems to grow, of the row after row of bodies, of seeing a much older and dead Uncle Remus laying beside a gold haired young woman that Ares told him was Uncle Remus’ wife, Tonks.

 _Who the hell named their daughter, Nymphadora? No wonder she chose to be called Tonks._  Mars thought.

As they passed between the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw tables Charlie Weasley gave them a grin and a wave, while Percy sat at the Ravenclaw table looking slightly anxious. As they passed Fred leant in and gave the third year 'Claw, a hug.

“We’re good, Perce. We’re going to Gryffindor.” He whispered and the older boy’s face relaxed.

“Thank goodness. Marcus Flint is a rotter.” Percy whispered back. “Any trouble, you look for Charlie or Oliver Wood, they’ll help you out. Okay?”

“Yes, Percy.” Fred grinned and hurried to catch up to his foster brothers.

“Alright?” George asked.

“Just a warning about Flint.” Fred replied.

“Think Ares’ plan for him will work?” Lee whispered.

“It’s Ares’ plan. It’ll work.” Both redheads said.

“It will.” Cedric agreed.

“Good, he’s a prick.”

That caused all five Fiends to snicker, which in turn caused Professor Snape, up at the staff table, to lift an eyebrow in question. Ares and Mars exchanged look and grinned, before giving their potions tutor a quick, and unseen by anyone else, bow. The man dipped his head in acknowledgement and sat back, not sure whether to be pleased or not. Remus had sent him a quick missive that morning to say that the boys had decided to push the Hat to put them in Gryffindor, that even though they were quite proficient at portraying pureblood Heirs, they didn’t want to do that for the next seven years.

This left Snape with a moral dilemma. Should he be pleased that his house had escaped the carnage that was sure to come, if some of his more arrogant snakes had caught the negative attentions of the Fiends? Or should he be lamenting the fact that this would be the last year that he would see the quidditch cup in his office, at least until the Fiends had graduated? Should he be sorry for McGonagall? Or pleased for himself?

Hmm… he would have to think on that a bit more. Maybe a few more weeks and he’d know.

“Adriano, Eliza.”

As Minerva McGonagall called the first student and sat the Hat on the girl’s head, Snape wondered, absently, how long it would take before the Fiends made their presence felt.

“Ravenclaw!” The Hat yelled. The girl beamed and leapt up to join her new housemates.

“Black, Ares.” McGonagall called and Snape felt like the entire Hall held it’s breath, he knew it didn’t, but that’s how it felt.

Ares calmly stepped out of the crowd and Snape had a moment of déjà vu, the boy was the spitting image of his father, how had Snape not seen that? Thank the gods, he had better morals.

 

The boy sat on the stool and the Hat was placed on his head.

_‘Ah, Mr Black… back again, I see.’_

_‘Hello, Aldwin. Yes, I’m back and not just myself. I have company. My brother Mars, of course, but also Fred and George Weasley, Lee Jordan and Cedric Diggory.’_

_‘And where do you propose I place you? You, at least, are the perfect balance of all that the_ _founders valued.’_

_‘Ah... Gryffindor if you please? We tend to let that side win out a little, it’s more fun.’_

_‘I see.’_

_‘It’s not that we don’t do the planning or the hard work. We just tend to make that first decision, rashly. And instead of backing down… we go ahead, plan it out and get it done and let everyone assume we had the whole thing pre-planned.’_

_‘Ah, now that sounds more like what I expected.’_ The Hat snorted _. ‘First prank?’_

_‘Set to go off at first light.’_

_‘And it is…?’_

_‘It’s school-wide. All students will have their clothes turned into their house colours. Red and gold stripes for Gryffindor, green and grey for Slytherin, blue and bronze for Ravenclaw and black and gold for the ‘Puffs.’_

_‘Tame.’_

_‘Really? Students from each house will not be able to see anyone in their own house as being affected. Heads of house will find their robes gaining and losing stripes of their house colours, intermittently. Dumbledore will get all four houses and the other professors with get colours from a house randomly selected each time. Changing clothes won’t make it go away, neither will a ‘finite’ or a ‘finite incantatum’. It will last all month, but only on Saturdays and Wednesdays. Oh and every third Tuesday of the month, for the rest of the school year.’_

_‘What the…? How do you do **that**?’_

_‘We popped up last night and asked Gwen for help.’_

The Hat started to laugh, out loud, for the entire school to hear.

“Well done, Mr Black, well done. I concede. Ares Black, Mars Black, Cedric Diggory, Lee Jordan, Fredrick Weasley, George Weasley. Gryffindor for you six. I’ll open up the turret room for you, try not to make me regret that, please. Oh and Lady Hogwarts suggests that you inform your housemates of your long-term plans. There are some that may wish to join you.”

Ares took the Hat off and placed it on the stool and gave it a small bow.

“Nice to know our homework is appreciated.” He laughed.

With a grin to McGonagall, he crossed to the lions’ table a sat down scooting over far enough for his brothers and Lee to join him. Which they did, after tossing a glance at McGonagall and the Hat.

It was then that Ares allowed his first look at Dumbledore. The old man was twinkling away, just like always. Snape however, looked conflicted, enough that Ares gave him a frowning look, but as expected Snape shook his head and turned back to the sorting. It took McGonagall a few moments to gather her reactions, but she did.

“Charleston, Laura-Anne.” She called.

A few seconds pause and… “Hufflepuff” came from the Hat.

“Davies, Roger”, stepped up and was sorted into “Ravenclaw”, just like before.

And so the sorting went on…

“Johnson, Angelina” was sorted into “Gryffindor”, as expected.

And still the sorting went on…

“Spinnet, Alicia” was the last “Gryffindor” of the night.

“Xavier, Melissa” was the last student called and she went to “Slytherin.”

 

The turret room was the one that Ares remembered Harry sharing with Ron, Neville, Dean and Seamus during their fifth and sixth years. Right at the top of the tower. But Lady Hogwarts had changed it, it was considerably larger than Ares remembered it being and beside each bed there was a clear expanse of wall, free of windows. This was obviously for their vertical trunks and Ares lifted his robe and pulled his shrunken satchel from a pocket. A quick grope inside the satchel and his trunk was in his hand. A tap with his finger to enlarge the trunk to quarter-size and he pushed it against the wall. Another pair of taps and it was at it’s full size.

“Mine does that, too?” Lee asked.

“Yep, it’s got four sizes. Pocket, quarter, half and full sizes.”

“Wicked…”

“We should call Uncle Remus and Dad. Let them know how we went.” Cedric said, once his trunk was upright.

“I think we better hold off on that.” Mars warned.

“Why?” Cedric asked.

“We get the feeling that Headmaster Dumbledore is going to want to speak to us.” Ares answered.

“Really? Why?” Lee asked.

Ares and Mars shared a cheeky grin.

“Uncle Remus took us to Gringotts, today. We go our Heir Rings.” Mars started.

“Mars is Heir Black.” Ares went on.

“We are the Heirs Prewett.” Fred waved his hand back and forth between he and George.

“And Ares is Heir Potter.” Mars grinned.

“Oh, lord.” Lee sighed. “Why did I agree to this?”

“The expression on McGonagall’s face when we tell her, who we used to be, on our last day here?” Ares offered.

The look of horror on Lee’s face, amused them and the Fiends began to grin.

“You meant to say… she doesn’t **_know?!_** ” The dreadlocked boy demanded.

That cracked the Fiends up and their laughter filled the room, Fred and George rolling on their beds, while Ares and Cedric leant against each other and Mars sat on the floor, his back against a bed-post.

“Gentlemen.” Professor McGonagall’s voice cut through the amusement. “I dislike being the one to end such hilarity, but the Headmaster requests that the Mr’s Black and Weasley, come to his office.”

“Of course, Professor McGonagall, but would you be so kind as to remind him of our Father-Regent’s restrictions?” Mars replied.

“If it’s school related, two heads of house must be present.” Fred added.

“If it’s not, we’re permitted to meet with him once per school term.” George put in.

“And we must have all four heads of house, or Uncle Remus, present.” Ares finished. “Otherwise we do not have permission and won’t be attending. And if he forces the matter, Uncle Remus has stated that he will remove us from Hogwarts entirely.”

“I have reminded him, but seems to feel those restrictions do not apply to him. I shall inform him again. Do you know where to go or shall I escort you?”

“Second floor, ma'am, Gargoyle Corridor, left from the Great Tower.” Mars recited.

“Yes, ma'am. We know where to go.” Fred added.

“Very well. You have twenty minutes.” McGonagall closed the door behind her and left.

“If your Uncle pulls you from the school, what happens to me? I don’t fancy being here on my own.” Lee objected.

“Hmm…” Fred hummed. “Ced? Can you call Uncle Remus and tell him what’s going on. Get him to visit Lee’s Ma. With Mr Jordan dead, Dumbledore becomes his de-facto magical guardian at midnight, but if Uncle Remus can get something in place before then? That gives us more leverage, all the first year Gryffindor boys being pulled? With that and Ares, it’s unlikely that Dumbledore will try and bluff us, he risks loosing too much.” A serious Fred wasn’t something that Lee was all that fond of, it tended to be a prelude to the nastier, crueller pranks, but in this instance, he was _**all**_ in favour of it.

“Alright.” Cedric responded. “Are you getting changed? Or are you going to stick with school robes?”

“Oh, no, it’s time to tweak the old goat’s beard.” Ares grinned viciously and dived into his trunk to get changed. Mars, Fred and George followed his lead and headed for their own trunks.

“ChatterBowls?” Lee asked Cedric. “Or did they come up with something else? Something new?”

Cedric just held up a green bowl with a Whomping Willow carved in it.

 

As they reached the Gargoyle Corridor, the four boys met McGonagall heading in their direction.

“Ah, gentlemen. A moment please?”

“Of course, Professor.” Mars replied.

“The Headmaster has spoken briefly with your Uncle and has decided that, as he wishes to speak to you regarding non-school related matters, holding this meeting in his office is presumptuous. As such the ante-room off the Great Hall is now our destination.” She gestured and the four boys fell into step with her. “Apparently the Sorting Hat has had a great deal to say this evening.”

“Okay…” Mars grimaced. “That doesn’t sound too good.”

“Normally I would agree, Mr Black, but it seems to have done some good. The Headmaster was reminded that as Heirs to Ancient and Noble Houses, you should have been provided access to separate accommodations, offices and a personal house-elf. Just as other Heirs should have been.”

“Haven’t they?” Fred asked, letting alarm colour his voice, just slightly.

“No, Mr Weasley, they haven’t.”

“But… But… But their _**training?!”**_ George portrayed a very realistic, freaked-out child.

“That is precisely what the Headmaster was reminded of. And thankfully, he has taken steps to see that corrected.” McGonagall said. “We, meaning the heads of Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Slytherin and the Headmaster, will be meeting with each Heir and offering private rooms, as well as the Headmaster will offering a formal apology to each Family for the slight against their Heirs.” She shook her head. “Here we are, gentlemen.” She pushed open the Great Hall’s doors and lead them into it’s small, in comparison, ante-room, where the Headmaster, Professor Sprout, Professor Flitwick and Professor Snape waited.

“Mr’s-” Albus Dumbledore stopped before he’d finished the first word and started again. “Heir Black, Heir Potter, Heir Prewett, Heir Prewett. Thank you for joining us, please, won’t you take a seat?” He gestured to elegant but simple chairs that fanned out in a gentle circle, around a central lowset table, that held a tea service, a plates of small biscuits, a small pile of parchment and an inkwell, with a fanciful and fluffy white quill.

All four boys stepped into the room and ignoring the Headmaster, addressed Professor Snape.

“Master Snape.” All four gave a shallow bow.

“Fiends.” Snape replied and gave the same shallow bow in return.

“Severus.” Pomona Sprout touched his wrist. “You mustn’t take liberties in addressing an Heir, socially, it’s not polite.”

“Madam, Master Snape has been permitted such… liberties, as you call them, for a number of years.” Mars corrected.

Dumbledore, Sprout and Flitwick turned to Snape in surprise.

“You knew?” Dumbledore asked, stunned.

“Well, of course I knew, I told you back when Lily’s son died, that Potter was too frivolous, too much of an attention seeker, that him not claiming the title, was only because he couldn’t.” Snape retorted.

“Yes… but, you said nothing about anyone else claiming it.” Dumbledore objected.

“He couldn’t, Headmaster.” Ares informed them.

“Might I ask, why?” Professor Flitwick asked.

“The subject matter was under Fidelius, sir, at least until we claimed the Heir Rings.” Ares explained. “We can only hypothesise who set it, but our mother wrote in her journal that she was the Secret Keeper and it had been cast in such a manner, that upon her death, she could bequeath the position of Secret Keeper to someone of her choice.”

“She chose her brother, our Uncle Remus.” Mars added. “She knew that we would go to live with him, so it made sense for him to hold the Secret.”

“But… Remus Lupin is a werewolf, I can’t see-”

“No, he’s not.” Snape cut him off.”

“What? Yes, he-”

“No, St Mungo's have cleared him.” Snape said. “I, too, questioned him, for the same reason, I might add. He informed me that St Mungo's cleared, both shortly after the initial attack and again when custody of the boys was raised.”

“But Lyall Lupin said…”

“Uncle Remus told us what Grandpa told you, that Uncle Remus was attacked and suffered because of his injuries and had issues as a result? Yes?” mars stood back and let Ares control this conversation.

“Well, yes…”

“And you took that to mean that Uncle Remus was infected and was a werewolf. Not true. Uncle Remus was attacked, he was infected and does have issues as a result, but he does not have enough of the disease to infect others, nor is he forced to transform into a ravening beast every time the moon is full.” He tilted his head. “He does require larger amounts of protein, initially it was thought to be just red meat, but that's not the case. His body consumes vast amounts of energy, due to having an increased metabolism and heightened senses. For a guardian of small boys, it came in very handy, he said. He could smell our distress, our fear, he could hear if we cried in our sleep, he could smell if we were injured or cut ourselves. And he had the energy to keep up with us.” He gestured to the seats and raised an eyebrow in question.

“Oh, yes, of course. Please do.” Dumbledore hurriedly assured them.

“Ladies first.” Ares responded and offered a hand to Professor McGonagall, while Mars did the same with Professor Sprout. Once the two ladies were seated the four boy gave them a bow and sat, Ares and Mars between Fred and George. “Professor? Would you be so kind?” Mars indicated from Professor Sprout to the tea service.

“Certainly, Heir B-… Ah, How do we tell you apart?” She answered.

“I am Mars, Heir Black and Ares is Heir Potter. After tonight, we shall have our House Crests on our robes. Just to make it easier.” Ares smiled.

“That would be much appreciated, Fiends.” Snape said.

“Fiends? Why do you call them Fiends?” Professor Flitwick asked.

“Because that is what they are. Fiends, the five of them. Although… I notice that you pulled Mr Jordan into your midst. Is there a reason for that?” Snape answered.

“Yep.” Ares grinned. “We knew Lee before we came to live with Uncle Remus, he was a good friend.”

“And now you’ve roped him into your shenanigans?”

“Yes, Master Snape.” Ares beamed.

“Hmph… Continue.”

“Sir?”

“With your tale. Continue.”

“Oh… yes, sir. Uncle Remus is sensitive to the moon, not enough to change, though. It does mean that his Animagus Common form is a wolf, a Tundra Wolf, not a werewolf and as yet, he hasn’t mastered his Magical form, not fully. It’s a canine, but which one is still in question, we’ve narrowed it down to either a Warg, a Cerberus or a Hellhound. He has yet to get the head right and until he does, we won’t know.”

“I see…” it was clear that Dumbledore didn’t see.

“Uncle Remus believes that Grandpa just didn’t get enough tome to explain it completely. Not with Mama chucking a hissy-fit. He also said that separating him from the other students was kind of pointless, as he couldn’t infect anyone, but that he enjoyed the quiet.”

“At least until Daddy and Uncle James figured it out. Then they badgered him until they learnt how to be Animagi, too.” Mars added.

“They were Animagi?” Dumbledore asked. How had he not known?

“Yes, sir. Daddy was a Scottish Deerhound for his Common form and a Grimm for his magical. Uncle James was a stag for his common and a Snow Hart for his magical.”

“Lily was a Boxer and a Blue Tiger.” Snape offered.

“Lily was an Animagus, too?” Minerva asked.

“Yes, she got the Common form just before the end of fourth year and the Magical form, just weeks before they went into hiding.” The dour Professor explained.

“That is good to know, Severus, thank you.” Minerva smiled and Snape just nodded his head.

“That is good know.” Dumbledore tried to take control of the conversation, again. “I understand that you only claimed your Rings, this morning, but you’ve known about them for a number of years, your Uncle said. Might I inquire as to why it was left so late?” It was a delicate situation, none of the boys had to answer and both he and they, knew it.

“Uncle Remus wanted us to have more time as children, without the added pressure of maintaining our estates. He’s our Father-Regent and will remain that, until we are of age, but even then, we want him to stay as our seneschal.” Ares answered with a shrug. “Lord Black wasn’t happy, but tough trolls, he let Daddy’s mother and father disown Daddy without a reason that the Family Charter would support, so... too bad.” His expression turned sour.

“Ah…?” There were a few questioning looks.

“Family Business, I’m afraid, but the matter is resolved, even if  Lord Black doesn’t like it very much. He let it happen, he can live with the results.” Mars’ expression was just slightly vicious.

“Fiends.” Snape drawled. “You’re spooking them.”

“Sorry, Master Snape.” The pair spoke together.

Professor Flitwick spoke up. “A little earlier the Sorting Hat mentioned long-term plans? May I ask…? Or should I just wait and see?”

The four boys had a quick, visible but silent, conversation.

“Right.” Ares sighed, it seemed as though he was to be the spokesperson. “We were exposed to the Wizarding World as children, but as Mama was a squib, that exposure was as outsiders. It let us see things that you wizard-raised, miss. Fred and George can attest to that.” The two named boys, nodded. “We lived in the muggle world and visited the Wizarding world on a regular basis. This continued even after going to live with Uncle Remus. This let us see things that you lot can’t. We saw that the Statute is breaking down.”

There was a number of gasps.

“Yeah… The problem is the muggleborns, well… not the muggleborns themselves, but their families. Wizarding families think nothing of sending a child off to Hogwarts for months on end, but muggle families struggle. Hogwarts isn’t like a muggle boarding school. At a muggle boarding school, certain things happen that the families can participate in. Visits, day outings, open-days, telephone calls, letters, orientation days, sporting events, excursions, to name just a few. But the biggest issue is that the Statute stops a muggleborns’ parents from telling their family or friends the name of Hogwarts and in the muggle word that’s enough to raise alarm bells. Add to this the parents have no way of placating a suspicious Great-Aunt Emma, because they know nothing about the school, or Uncle Robert, who’s a teacher himself and after talking to our young muggleborn, has come to the conclusion that this fabulous school is letting the muggleborn fall dramatically behind their muggle-educated cousins.”

“What? How?” Professor Sprout demanded.

“Hogwarts offers no literacy or numeracy based subjects. This was a sticking point for Uncle Remus, he’d been to Hogwarts and knew what was taught, but he’d also lived in the muggle world and knew how poorly educated Wizarding children are in anything non-magical.”

“But..”

“How many of your students struggle with reading, with mathematics, with spelling? Can the seniors create a budget? Do they understand the phrases in common contracts? Do they know how to balance a ledger? Do they know how to cook? What if their wand is broken? Or if they’re in a muggle area, how do they get out, without requiring an obliviator? Do they know what muggle money looks like? Do they know how to use it? Do they know that nearly every muggle house, has a camera that can record moving pictures, like a magical photo, but one that lasts for anything up to four hours, as opposed to magical ones which last only a few seconds?”

“What can we do?” Minerva whispered.

“The muggles have a saying. ‘Hide in plain sight.’ And that is what the Wizarding world needs to do. What we plan to do is take over the Ministry from the inside and hide our world. That means we need to bring Hogwarts up to the minimum acceptable level of non-magical academics, that even muggle schools demand. Then we get well placed muggles, accustomed to magic, but we call it a talent, so that over time, it becomes something that the muggles believe almost anyone can learn. Yes, it will mean teaching them some things. Muggles can use runes and have done for centuries, they just can’t activate them, fully. Arithmancy is another subject they can learn, as is CoMC. Defence is one of those half and half subjects, there are parts they can learn, parts that don’t require a wand and parts that are out of their abilities. Maybe not potions, charms or transfiguration, but if we do this right we can play them off as either advanced or obscure branches, or just specialties.”

The five Professors gaped at Ares.

“And you think you can do this?” Professor McGonagall asked.

“We know we can.” Mars answered.

“Take Lee Jordan as an example. Lee’s a halfblood. His father was a halfblood, his mother is a muggle. Lee was raised in the muggle world, but like us knew about the Wizarding world. But his family, because of his mother’s status, knew about our world. They knew about Hogwarts. Like us, Lee has been studying magic, without a wand, for years. All of us could pass our OWLs, right now.”

“NEWTs.” Snape corrected.

“Excuse me?” Ares blinked.

“You five Fiends could pass your NEWTs, right now.”

“Oh, okay… But we could also pass the same non-magical subjects that muggles our age have to pass.” He shook his head. “And because of that knowledge, Lee’s family understand. They’ve seen to it that Lee has extra texts, extra books, things that if he were to return to the muggle world to live, he’d know about.” He sighed. “See...? That’s the biggest problem. We bring muggleborns in, we expect them to give up everything that it means to be a muggle, even to the extent of alienating their families and then after Hogwarts, we cut them loose. Prejudice in the Wizarding world against muggleborns mean that few of them can get jobs, so they return to the muggle world. They return know all we can teach them, all our weaknesses, all our access points, all our methods of communication, all our settlements. And we kick them out. What happens when one decides to side with a anti-magical zealot?”

The looks of horror on the five adults’ faces said it all.

“We can barely defend against our own, look at the devastation that Grindelwald and Voldemort created, how can we stand against an army that outnumber us by over four thousand to one? We can’t. No. Our best hope of survival as a magical race, is to make ourselves common to them.”

“Common?” Snape asked.

“You know how magical a wand is? But do you stop to think about it? Do you recognise it for what it is? Or do you just use it? That is what we need to become. We’ll be there, they’ll know about us, but they won’t take any notice, until they want us to change the colour of something, or locate someone. We need to be everywhere, in every aspect of their lives. Healers, lawyers, furniture makers, seamstress, chefs, shop clerks, the man on the corner that sells the newspaper. Make it so there’s an advantage to having a magical neighbour, that trying to use one of us as a weapon will only mean police and Aurors work together, just like different departments of the police do now. That Sarah, who your granddaughter, Lucy, invited over for a sleepover, is a witch ‘in training’, so don’t be surprised if she accidentally levitates her teddy across the room.” Ares shrugged. “We are just there. That’s what we need to be, if we’re to survive.”

“This is your long-term plan? To blend us into the muggle world?”

“Not really. Our long-term plan is to make us _**indispensible**_ to the muggle world. That we become so **_vital_** , so important, so a part of their world, that it would _**collapse**_ without us.”

“Ah.” Dumbledore sat back, sipping at his tea. “And how do you see your housemates, fitting into this plan?”

“Alright. Lee? Loves a chat. If we were to put him on the WWN or the muggle equivalent? He’d be a voice or face that everyone knows and everyone would know that Lee’s a Magical, but they'd trust him, because that what you do with the people on the Wireless. Charlie, Fred and George’s brother? He wants to study dragons, right? We went to a muggle zoo for our birthday last year, Charlie came with us. Places like that would love someone like Charlie, that can levitate, an escaped or injured animal, return it to it’s pen or to the healers. Mr Weasley? He loves muggle things, he’d be the person everyone one the street came to when their toaster grew legs and tried to run away, because their neighbour’s son, who was playing with their boy, had a burst of accidental magic.”

Dumbledore huffed in surprise. “I’d not thought of that.”

“Who would have? Magicals don’t, because they don't understand how muggles can get by without magic. If we can learn that and make ourselves indispensible? The Statute can fall and not only will the muggle know, but on the whole, they’ll be pleased.”

“On the whole?”

“Oh, you’ll always get some idiots, on both sides, but they’ll be the minority. And if we do it right, word it right, set the right whispers in the right ears? It’ll be the _**purebloods,**_ that first publicly suggest letting the Statute fall.”

“If you can do that, you’re better wizards than I.” Dumbledore chuckled.

“It’s already started. This last summer? We had Daddy’s cousins, Lady Narcissa Malfoy and Mrs Tonks, join us for a day. We went muggle clothes shopping and they loved it. Lord Malfoy and Mr Tonk came another day and we went to a muggle hotel for an investment lecture. Cousin Draco and Cousin Dora are going to spend a few days over Yule with us, we’re going to go to a muggle Christmas pageant. We took Mr Weasley to Tesco’s, he was in awe and spoke of nothing else for days. We took Bill and Percy to the London museum and London libraries and both of the were gobsmacked. They want to go back.” Mars babbled.

“But… each time, the wizard or witch could see a way that magic could be used to compliment what the muggles were doing and make things easier for both muggle and wizard.”

“How so?”

“Okay, Cousin Narcissa? In the muggle shop, she saw their shop dummies, now if there was a witch working in that shop, they could charm a dummy to have the same colouring and build as the shopper, they could see instantly that no matter how lovely the shirt, the cut and colour weren’t going to suit that person. In Tesco’s? Some shelves were empty, but the boxes above held replacement stock, a wizard could restock the shelves in seconds or levitate a bulky parcel straight out of the warehouse, or for a price, apparate to the customer's house with their purchases. In the London library? Rare books could be magically copied for research purposes, while the originals were held under stasis charms. Lord Malfoy said that at the investment lecture, while the lecturers gave valid information, their hypothesis models could be expanded to many different fields of investment, not just financial. And once we got home he showed us using a illusionary model, exactly how our money is spent when we allocate funds in our estate management lessons. Not just where but what it would physically do to our estate as we changed things. He was quite keen to speaker to one of the lecturers, turns out the woman was knew about the Wizarding world, her sister was a muggleborn who married a wizard and when introduced to Lord Malfoy, she was able to greet him appropriately, which startled the hell of him.”

Snape laughed. “I think I heard about that. Miss Tonks said something about Lord Malfoy actually blinking.”

Something occurred to Dumbledore. “Who’s going to lead this movement? Are you going to be the face of this infiltration?”

“ _ **No!**_ Gods, no!” Ares snorted. “Cedric is.”

“Cedric?”

“Cedric Diggory is our foster brother.” Mars laughed.

“Cedric will be the Minister for Magic. Fred and George keep swapping around, but they’re going to take on Finance and Commerce, Mars will be Chief Warlock, I’ll be Head of the DMLE. Lee for the WWN. And we’ve our eyes on a few likely muggleborns for-”

“How? How can you know who the muggleborns are?” Dumbledore snapped.

“Most of them are overachievers, they tend to stand out in the muggle world, some are descended from squibs and if you know how to track your family history, tracking someone else’s isn’t that hard.”

“Oh…”

“Excuse me? But I do believe we have got slightly off subject and these young men have a curfew shortly.” Minerva pursed her mouth in disapproval.

“Of course, of course, Minerva. My apologies, I was simply curious. Gentlemen, I would like to talk to you about this more, would your Uncle be able to visit and meet with me?”

“We can only ask, Headmaster.” Mars replied.

“That would be much appreciated. But for now, back to Hogwarts and your positions. The Sorting Hat has stated that you, Mr Black, refused individual accommodations when it was offered, on your own behalf and that of your brother and the two Mr's Weasley. Why is that?”

“Headmaster, at home I share a room with Mars, Fred, George and Cedric. By choice. If we were to do that here, in an Heirs’ room, that would leave Cedric and Lee on their own and us four still sharing a room. We like Lee and felt it better for him and for us, if we all stayed in one room. Now because we knew this was coming, we took steps. Each of us have a trunk, it has an expanded compartment and a number of wizard-space rooms. An office, a bathroom, a walk-in wardrobe and various study rooms. But these trunks aren’t for everyone and in comparison to a school trunk, they exorbitantly expensive.” He held up a hand. “Now before you start to panic over us having expanded trunks with wizard-space room, Uncle Remus put restrictions on them. They can only be used in three places, our dorms, the common room and in a classroom with a Professor present. In our dorms, our dorm-mates are the only one we can invite into our trunks. In the common room, we can invite anyone in, but we have to have a prefect with us and keep the doors to any room we enter, must stay open. In a classroom, same rules apply. No one can enter a trunk unwillingly and we have to willingly invite them in, the wards are intent based.”

“Hmm…” Dumbledore closed his eyes in thought. “I dare say we can trial them, however if you are  found to be abusing the privilege…?” He trailed off.

“Uncle Remus made it quite clear what we could expect, if we did that. Trust us, Headmaster, we have **_no_**  intentions risking that punishment.” George spoke for them all.

“Very well, in that case gentlemen? Welcome to Hogwarts. Tomorrow I will be speaking with the other Heirs. I understand that all of you have had prior tutoring, so we’ll need to assess your current levels. We’ll need a list of your tutors, we may have to contact them for past curriculums. I ask that you wait until the end of next week before scheduling any outside tutors.”

“Certainly, Headmaster. Mistress Grubbly-Plank, Andromeda Tonks, Uncle Remus and Master Snape were out tutors. We have a list of subjects and levels, in our trunks. We’ll provide that to Professor McGonagall in the morning, if you like?” Ares replied.

“Yes, thank you. That will be fine. For now, as Professor McGonagall said, it is getting late and you lads need your rest. Minerva, would you be so kind as to escort them back to their dorm?” Dumbledore nodded.

McGonagall nodded and stood. “Gentlemen.” She said.

“Yes, Professor. Good night, Professors. Master Snape.” Each boy said their goodnights and bowed to Professor Sprout and nodded to the three male Professors, before joining Professor McGonagall for the walk back to their dorm.

“Well…? They were greeted by Lee and Cedric.

“It went well.” Mars said.

“Far better than we expected.” Ares added.

“Ares made them think.” Fred said.

“Cool. Can we go into a trunk and shift? I haven’t been able to shift into my magical form since arriving back.” Lee moaned. “I miss my feathers.”

 


	5. Chapter 5

**Thursday, 30 th of November 1989**

The memorial for the Potter family that was hosted by the Wizengamot, was broadcast over the Wizarding Wireless Network and classes for the day were cancelled as a result. Each house had a WWN set and a larger one was placed in the Great Hall for those that didn’t want to be crammed into a small space, another was in the Middle Courtyard for those that wanted to be outside.

The Fiends sat draped around a platform in the higher branches of the only tree in the Middle Courtyard, the two sets of twins had convinced Hagrid to give them some boards and nails. These, along with borrowed brooms, had used been to make a carefully placed platform in the tree.

It had taken only a week for the Professors to realise that the Fiends plus Lee were significantly advanced, far enough that each of them could easily have taken their OWLs before the end of the first week of school and that before the end of the first month, would have likely passed their NEWTs. Many of the other Heirs were found to be in a similar position and so a new system was formed, based not on a student’s age but on their knowledge and ability.

While this meant that the Fiends+One, which is how many of the Professors identified the six, were almost qualified to graduate, Wizengamot law stated that all children must participate in so many hours a week of educational study. So, study they did. At their request, and cost, a muggle teacher was brought in. Mrs Margaret Beeson, was probably the most over qualified tutor in existence. Maths, English, basic science, including chemistry and biology, were just a few of the subjects that she taught. But the most important thing she taught was an up-to-date version of muggle studies, alongside a slightly lost Quirrell.

This came as a massive shock to the stodgy of purebloods and their children, but not so much to the muggleborns, half-bloods and the few purebloods that had been exposed to the Fiends. But the old purebloods were horrified to discover just how advanced the muggles were.

Transport 200 people from one country to another in a few hours? Not possible. Yes, possible, been doing that since Grindelwald was around. People on the moon? Impossible. No, did that over two decades ago. Speak to someone on the other side of the world without having to light a fire? Unlikely. Uh, yeah, been doing that since before Grindelwald’s arrest. Destroy an entire city in seconds? No way. Yes, way, did that over thirty years ago, killing over 200,000 people. The purebloods were mostly scared, but some were listening, listening to the likes of Malfoy, to Arcturus Black and to Dumbledore, who had quietly repeated Ares’ comments. Now people were beginning to think, not that Ares and Mars figured that much would happen, before they were old enough to take the positions they wanted and push the matter. In the mean time, they could wait, anything that was done now, was something they didn’t have to do later.

And now they were listening to the Potters’ memorial service. The now-six Fiends plus the Gryffindor first year girls and a few older students, including Percy, Charlie, Charlie’s girlfriend Penny Haywood, Dora Tonks and Oliver Wood, sat in a circle, on fluffy cushions, with Wireless set in the middle of the platform. The volume was down low and Ares and Mars were telling stories.

Stories given to them by Uncle Remus, Professor McGonagall, Master Snape and Professor Dumbledore. Stories about James and Lily Potter and their time at Hogwarts. Very little was said about Harry, because very little was known. There were a few tales of him on a training broom, casing the cat or ramming the broom into James' legs, knocking him off his feet and laughing as he fell. Of his accidental magic floating James along the ceiling of the hallway of their cottage. Of Harry letting himself out of the house on the morning of his first birthday and wandering around the yard, with his parents having panic attacks until his Godfather Sirius Black, Mars and Ares’ father, changed into his Animagus form and used Harry’s scent to track him to the vegetable garden, where a happy boy sat, eating strawberries. Of Harry using accidental magic to almost bury Remus and Sirius in sand, at the beach.

Mostly, the stories were things like pranks gone wrong, James loosing focus halfway through his Animagus change and being stuck with a magnificent pair of antlers, that everyone thought was a hex from a Slytherin or Lily. Of Lily pretending that her Animagus form, was her dorm-mate, Alice Matheson’s, pet dog and convincing the entire dorm to go along with it. Of the hex battle between Lily and James in their sixth year, it lasted for three hours, the two sat at each end of the Long Gallery, tossing hexes at each other. Of the look of absolute horror on Professor McGonagall’s face when told that James and Lily were expecting a baby and that Sirius Black was going to be it’s godfather. Of Professor Slughorn’s pleas on bended knees, begging Lily to put off getting married, to take an apprenticeship, potions or charms, just don’t waste her talent by getting married, straight out of school.

An elf popped in and reminded them that while they were allowed to miss lunch, they had to attend the feast that evening and that Professor Dumbledore was hoping that Ares, as Heir Potter would allow the showing of a short presentation of pictures and if possible say a few words about each.

 

**Tuesday, 15 th of May1990**

The letter sat on the desk while Remus laughed and attempted to compose a reply.

It seemed like the Fiends’ colour change prank had worked well and was still going strong. Then there was the portable swamp, the boys had trapped a group of seventh years with that. And somehow they’d charmed the banners in the Great Hall to change places and colours randomly.

And then there were the pranks focused on the staff. Filch and his cat seemed to be the only ones left alone, as of yet.

Professor Flitwick had his classroom filled with flying feathers for an entire day and at least once a week, one feather would take flight and escape from his classroom, only to appear at the tiny Professor's seat in the Great Hall. Professor McGonagall had little cushions of catnip appearing in her pockets at random times, tiny bundles that drove her Animagus form crazy. Dumbledore had his robes turn a dark sombre grey, again at random times. Professor Snape’s robes would turn a darker version of Slytherin green with trimmings of silver, very tastefully done, but still not his choice. Professor Trelawney’s crystal balls would show her, and only her, the same thing over and over, again… a memory provided by Ares, of Trelawney standing outside of Hogwarts’ Great Hall the year after the battle of Hogwarts, declaring that she’s lied during her interview with Dumbledore, that the prophecy that had destroyed Harry’s life and killed his parents, was fake. Professor Sinistra’s maps all looked like a child had played joined the dots to draw realistic animal shapes instead of the abstract stick-figure shapes they should bear.

Professor Babbling’s books all showed cuneiform instead of the various different runic alphabets, while the students’ books had the appropriate ones, until she touched them. Professor Sprout found her mandrakes liked to sing, loudly and that the Fiends had a Whomping Willow that followed them around the school in a pot on wheels, patiently waiting outside a classroom, for their class to finish, but no one else could see it, no one but her (or so she thought, that had taken a bribe of student-wide prank-free week, to get the entire student body involved in). Muggle studies co-teacher, Professor Quirrell had discovered that his subject, was the least up-to-date subject in Hogwarts’ curriculum and that the muggleborn students were taking bets on who could tell him the most unbelievable tales about muggles, that were actually _**true**_. So far it was Donaghan Tremlett, he who would go on to play with the Weird Sisters, that was winning, after all who’d believe that a muggle woman could give birth to a child and not be related in any way, to that child? Or that they’d make a golden record, just to send it into space?

Professor Vector was partially horrified and partially amused when the mathematic symbols on her blackboard began swapping places, every time she touched chalk to the board, every… single… time. Madam Hooch found that sometimes when she went to the broom shed, the brooms tried to escape and once free, they floated just out of reach, for anything up to an hour, it didn’t happen every time, or even often, but enough to keep her on edge. Professor Kettleburn, the CoMC teacher found the Bowtruckles kept trying to steal his peg-leg and that the nifflers kept trying to steal his hand prosthetic, a metallic hook-like claw.

But it was Binns that bore the brunt. Every week it was a different prank. First it was his books changing subject mid-lecture. Then it was the other school ghosts interrupting his classes. Then messages that appeared to be from past headmasters telling him his classroom had moved. But the final prank, was turning out to not be a prank after all.

Someone had exorcised Binns.

He was gone, never to return, even the other ghosts were glad and for the moment they were replacing him, but Hogwarts would need a new History of Magic teacher, come next year.

Would Remus be interested in taking the post?

 

**Friday, 22 nd of June 1990**

Remus waited patiently… or not so patiently… for the express. He lamented the fact that the school’s updated charter insisted on all students travelling on the Express to London, at the end of the year. He much preferred that the boys floo home, as they did for Yule and Easter holidays. But that wasn’t going to happen, either at the start, or the end of the school year.

So, here he was, shoulder to shoulder with Amos and Arthur, waiting for their sons. Thanks to the boys adopting Lee into their group and the fact that Lee’s mother worked for British Airways as a hostess and was often away from home, Lee would be joining them for most of the break.

Another boy to add to Remus’ collection of mischief makers.

How many would he end up with?

 

**Saturday, 1 st of September 1990**

A wave of his wand and Remus had doubled the size of their compartment aboard the Express and it was needed. In addition to himself and the, now six, boys that lived under his guardianship, there were a collection of other students. Charlie was popping in and out and the train even hadn’t left the station yet. Percy had been in but after a few minutes had hugged the boys and left. Dora was sitting in the corner eyeing Remus, waggling her eyebrows and sharing cheeky grins with Charlie’s girlfriend Penny. Oliver Wood knelt on the floor in front of the boys, alternately begging or badgering the boys to try out for the quidditch team this year and of course, the boys were teasing him by not commenting either way.

It wasn’t until they were on the platform that Remus enlightened the boys, just who their new History of Magic teacher was going to be and what that would mean for them. The boys would stay in their dorm-room, but would be permitted to visit Remus’ quarters outside of school hours and weekends. The only other change, was that with Remus in attendance, they would be able to leave the school on House business, that did not include tutors, who had to attend them at the school.

Each of the six boys had been assessed and all were advanced enough to decide on the subjects they were going to study and those electives were no longer limited to what they all remembered the few choices to be. All of them had chosen History of Magic, not knowing that their new Professor was to be their Uncle. Law, Charms, Transfiguration, DADA and Potions being the other five subjects they had in common. In addition to these, Ares had chosen to study Wizengamot Protocols, as did Mars. Fred and George added Finance and Commerce to their study load, while Cedric and Lee added Business management.

For now, Remus was jammed into a train compartment with sometimes as many as a dozen students, all of them hyped up on chocolate and sweets.

Lovely.

Maybe he should give them a little more, before he handed them over to McGonagall? Or would she insist that, as it was Saturday, he could keep them? Hmm… Decisions, decisions…

 

**Saturday, 10 th of November 1990**

Remus sat back, waiting for Madam Hooch to call the teams out. He’d had a little snicker earlier when Snape had cast a long yearning look at the House Cup trophy and sighed dramatically. He’d known that he’d lost the cup, even if the students didn’t.

Charlie had decided to focus on his NEWTs and had  reluctantly given over his Captain’s baton to Oliver Wood and his Seeker’s position to Ares, even Cedric was pleased that Ares got it. Fred and George were, of course, the beaters, but Mars and Cedric decided to be the support crew and let Angelina Johnson take the only Chaser’s spot available. The last two of Remus’ boys would be the support team, they’d schedule the practices, organise the after-parties and if someone was too ill to compete, they’d take their up brooms fro Gryffindor.

The History Professor knew what was going to happen, it did every time the boys played, whether with the older Weasley boys and their friends or against each other. The only request from Snape was ‘Quidditch is a spectator sport, give them something to watch’. Of course, Remus had winced when he’d heard that, he had a fair idea what that meant to his boys.

 

Three and half hours later, he reached out and swatted at Snape’s arm.

“This is your bloody fault, Severus.” He muttered.

“ ** _Mine?!_**  How do you figure that?” Snape replied.

“Quidditch is a spectator sport, give them something to watch.” Remus reminded him.

“Oh, hell.” Snape slumped back in his seat. “This is **_not_**  what I meant.”

“Yeah, well… it’s what you got. Remember who their father is?”

“Ugh…” Snape groaned, burying his head in his hands. “It’s bad enough that Slytherin stand little chance of winning the cup, but this…?” He flung a hand in the direction of the pitch. “They’re just bloody playing with us.”

“They are.” Remus shrugged. It was so obvious that he couldn’t deny it.

“How do we get them to stop? Can we get them to stop?”

“They’re four hundred and ten points up. Are you prepared to concede the game?” McGonagall asked, from her seat beside Remus.

“It’s not a game… It’s a bloody embarrassment.” A new voice said.

Turning, the two Professors saw the Slytherin captain, Robert Brewster, floating just a few feet away.

“Mr Brewster. Language, please.” Professor McGonagall chided.

“Damn my bloody language, those gits are _**toying**_ with us! They haven’t bothered to score in the last three hours and they’ve kept us from scoring at all!” The seventh year captain snarled. “We never stood a bloody chance. We concede the game.” Brewster huffed.

“Are you certain, Mr Brewster? You can’t change your mind.” McGonagall said.

“Professor, I’ve got an entirely new team, no existing players, execpt me. We need a hell of a lot of practice, before we’d even stand a chance of beating this year’s lions.” He turned Remus. “Please tell me that they had some professional training over the summer? Please?”

“Sorry Mr Brewster, but no, they did not. But they did get a fair amount of broom time over the summer. Mr Wood, Miss Johnson, Miss Spinnet and Miss Bell did stay with us for a few weeks.”

“Aw, hell. We concede the game and… can we book the pitch for practice?” Brewster replied.

Snape nodded, while McGonagall headed for Lee in the announcer’s box.

 

**Wednesday, 20 th of  March 1991.**

The twins were all 12 in just over a week and someone had suggested a school-wide party (cough, Dumbledore, cough). But as their birthday this year, fell on the Monday of Easter, it had been decided to hold a party on the Spring Solstice, partially for the boys, but also as an introduction to Solstice Celebrations.

So, today Hogwarts was in a tither, all in preparation for a big party tomorrow. While the Spring Solstice may not have the importance that Autumn’s Harvest Solstice has, it was still one of the Balancing Days, days that the Wizarding world revered as days where the borders between the realm of Lady Magic and the living world were at their narrowest, where the Touch of Lady Magic was at it’s strongest.

Tomorrow would be the first time in almost a century that a Solstice Celebration had been held at Hogwarts. A few muggle-friendly families had objected, but Dumbledore had sat down with them and a solution had been reached. Solstice Celebrations would happen, muggleborn children were entering the Magical World, but if the Celebrations and offerings to Lady Magic didn’t happen, who knew how long before She stopped blessing them with her Touch? By the same token, those children came from a world that celebrated different events and no one could expect them to forego their celebrations, so why should the magical –raised? But neither should anyone, muggleborn or magical, be forced to attend any celebration. What one chose to attend was private, much like which religion one chose was private.

A number of celebrations would be happen, from a number of different religions. Pagan, yes, but also Jewish, Chinese, Muslim and Hindu, to name but few of the more widely supported ones. Unsurprisingly Atheism and Agnosticism weren’t among them. Lady Magic would not allow her Touch to reach those who did not believe, whether it be in Her or Someone else.

Essentially, magic is belief. If you don’t believe, how can you do something? Apparition? Students are taught the three D’s, Determination, Destination and Deliberation. In other words, you had to believe that you would arrive at your chosen destination. Lumos? You had to believe that your wand could light your way. Animagi? You had to believe that you could turn your body into that of an animal’s.

Without that belief, nothing happened. With that the belief, you did magic.

So that brought back the reminder that Hogwarts was getting ready for a party to say ‘thank you’.

In the middle of the week. Sometimes one could be grateful for the Ministry insisting that Hogwarts take on the Muggle School year schedules, including the appropriate holidays. Easter might be a Christian event, but Easter School Holidays were a teacher’s sanity saver.

 

**Sunday, 1 st of September 91**

Stepping from the floo on platform 9¾, Remus sighed.

A new school year, this was the year that Harry was to have started at Hogwarts. The year that began his education, an education targeted towards destroying one person, Voldemort. Remus was exceptionally glad that Ares was no longer Harry, that Voldemort was gone and that Ares’ time at Hogwarts was, so far anyway, free of violent confrontations. Oh, yes, there were disputes with other students, but Snape and Remus put a stop to those, quickly. Classrooms and corridors were not battlegrounds and they were not to be used as such. That was to be reserved for the dueller’s piste. And no one, was all that keen to face a Fiend on the piste.

And with Quirrell returning to Hogwarts, to study under the new Muggle Studies Professor, Mrs Beeson, his fascination with all things muggle having been re-sparked by her knowledge, that meant that the DADA post wouldn’t be held by a stuttering and Voldemort-possessed Quirrell. No, this year Dumbledore had approached Scrimgeour and requested that his senior Aurors take the post, for one month each. It would give Scrimgeour a chance to see any possible recruits in advance and would give the students a fresh and practical take on the subject. It was also suggested that promising recruits could be offered a chance to tag along with Aurors to get a first-hand look at what such a career would involve and Scrimgeour was so enamoured with the idea, that he counted with the idea that it should be a structured thing. That fourth and sixth years should be able to approach any prospective employer or mentor and request a week of work experience, that would count towards their OWLs or NEWTs as credits in the appropriate subject or subjects.

So, this year promised to be a busy one.

And given the look that Lee, who’d stayed with his mother for the last few days, was giving the boys? The intrigue was starting early.

“Mars, Ares? Where are-? Oh, there they are.” Lee answered his own question as the redheaded twins emerged from the floo-fireplace.

“Hey, Bouncer. Wha’s up?” Mars sidled up to Lee, nudging the chocolate-skinned boy’s shoulder with his own.

“I… I... I just saw Pinfeathers, Scimitar and Tempest.” Lee stammered.

“Okay…?”

“Talking to each other…” Lee added.

The four other boys froze… in mid step.

“Excuse me?” Ares gasped. “Did you say…?”

“… talking to each other? Yes, I did.”

“Oh, boy.” Ares grimaced. “That… that’s not good.”

“No.” Lee agreed.

“Ah, guys…” Cedric joined them, making his way through the crowd, having said farewell to his father. “We’ve got a problem.”

“Yeah, we have.” Ares agreed.

“I just heard someone introduce herself as Hermione Dagworth-Granger.” Cedric explained.

“Oh, man…” George groaned. “We are in sooo much trouble.”

“Think we can talk her out of it?” Cedric asked.

“Lee saw her talking to Draco and Longbottom.” Mars answered.

“Aw, crap.”

“Boys? Why don’t you get on board? You can work on this later.” Remus suggested.

“Yeah, here’s hoping Trevor stays where he should…” Fred started.

“… if he does, we stand a chance.” George finished.

“No, we don’t. We’re screwed. The moment she sees Ced in red and gold?”

“Aw, bollocks.” Mars moaned.

“Boys.” Remus chided. “Train. Now. Go.” He pointed at a carriage door.

“Yes, Uncle Remus.” They answered.

“Uncle Remus? Could you check up with the Dagworth-Grangers? Mention magical guardians. If they don’t have someone, will you do it?” Mars asked.

“I’ll ask, Mars. I won’t push any further, but I’ll ask.” Remus replied. He gave each of the boys a hug and stepped back. “I’ll see you in a few hours.”

The six boys sighed and headed for the train. Each of them were hoping that Lady Luck would look favourably on them and not let them get killed before the start of term feast.

 

An hour later, Ares glanced over towards the door and what he saw, made him shudder.

“I’m dead.” He groaned. “I am sooo dead.”

The other boys looked at their brother and frowned.

“What?” asked Cedric. “Why now?”

A tapping was heard on the compartment door and the five other boys all looked in that direction. Cousin Draco stood behind a young girl with bushy brown hair and a chubby faced boy.

“Ah…” Cedric winced as he looked at Ares. “Whadda ya wanna do?”

“Let ‘em in. If we don’t, we’ll pay for it later.”

“Right.” Cedric flicked his wand and the door opened.

“Hey.” Ares gave a wave. “Come on in, have a seat.”

“Thanks.” Draco tossed a smile at Cedric. “So… Introductions, huh?”

“Yes, please.” The girl replied, primly.

“Right.” Draco took a deep breath. “Miss Hermione Dagworth-Granger is Heiress Dagworth-Granger and Mr Neville Longbottom is Heir Longbottom. These are my cousins’ foster brothers. Mr Lee Jordan is the only son of House Jordan. Mr Cedric Diggory is the only son of House Diggory. Messer's Fred and George Weasley are the Heirs Prewett. And my cousins, Mars is Heir Black and H-Ares is Heir Potter.” Draco finished.

Because he was doing everything he could to avoid looking at Hermione, Ares picked up on Draco’s stumble as he said Ares’ name.

“Just a moment, cousin.” He said and pulled out his wand. Taking care to not point it at any of the newcomers, Ares tossed up a set of Auror-grade privacy charms, causing a trio of raised eyebrows. “Thanks. Now… If I’m wrong, I’ll see that you don’t remember this, but… if I’m right…” and given the lack of expressions on three faces, he was, “…then I’m really, really sorry for waiting.” The three first years, looked at him blankly. “Great… Hogwarts calls us her Fiends. We are… Lee is Bouncer, Cedric is Talon, Fred’s Ember, George is Copper, Mars is Smoke and I am Shadow. Welcome to the next generation of Marauders, Pinfeathers, Scimitar and Tempest.” He held his breath, grimacing at the same time.

“You…! You…” Draco spluttered.

“But… Har… What?” Neville stammered.

But the growl that rose in Hermione’s throat was familiar to all of the males in the compartment. Some of them had first-hand experience, like Draco, he still clearly remembered her right fist meeting his face and Sirius had borne the brunt of her frustration at Grimmauld Place a number of times, before he’d got the message that pushing the young witch tended to end up backfiring on him painfully.

“Ah, hi?” Ares offered, hesitatingly.

“Shadow…” The word was ground out like a curse.

“Tempest.” He replied.

“What… _the hell_ … **_did you_** … **_do?!”_**  The last few words were halfway between a screech and a growl, which in itself was quite an achievement.

“Sorry, Tempest, not me, not this time.” Ares replied happily, giving her a bright smile.

“Not… Then who?”

“Far as I can figure it… the weasel and the gold digger. And then later, Lady Hogwarts and Lady Magic.”

Hermione blinked. “Who?”

“Ron and Ginny.”

“What?! No, surely not?”

“George overheard Ron telling Ginny that he’d placed your black-it-out spell, right above the Veil’s arch, it caught me. And I… I apparently stumbled into the veil.”

“Shadow…” The girl sighed.

“Yeah…” Ares’ sigh joined hers.

“I woke up in the cupboard, again. I swapped the wards over to Dud and grabbed all the cash in the house, then spent a few minutes shovelling through the crap in the bottom the walrus and the giraffe’s wardrobe to find everything the old goat sent from the Hollow.” Ares made sure not to say anyone’s name, not Petunia’s, not Vernon's, not Godric’s, just in case there were listening charms his privacy spells weren’t able to counter.

“Right… Keep going.” She waved her hand in a circular motion.

“Right, so, I did that and left. Got as far as the Walk,” Meaning Wisteria Walk, the entrance to Magnolia Gardens Estate. “I was debating where to go, when I got a patronus from Snuffles. He remembered, Mione, he remembered.” Ares reached out his hands, one to his brother, yes, but other went to the one person that, no matter the circumstance, had stood at his side and been the support he’d need to see that the war ended. “I replied and sent him to the shack, we met and…”

For the next hour, Ares told Hermione, Neville and Draco, what had happened and where they were at now. Finishing he sat back.

“Nev? I tried mate, but I need your input, on the potion for your parents. We’ve a Whomping Willow sapling, but Stompy’s not old enough to flower yet and none of us have your green thumb, we can’t get Hogwarts’ Willow to flower.”

“And to complete the potion you need full moon dew collected from the Willow’s petals…” Neville’s answer confirmed that like the others, he remembered.

“Yeah…” Ares answered.

“So…” Hermione tilted her head. “Let me get this straight. You went through the arch, woke up here and proceeded to change everything?”

“Kinda, but not really.” Ares held up a hand. “Wait. Look, we’ve done as much research as we could and later tonight, we’ll show you. I don’t think-”

“We don’t think.” Mars cut him off.

“What?” Ares asked.

“ ** _We_** , Ares, not just you. All of us, so far, agreed. So… **_we_**  don't think.”

“Oh, okay.” Ares shook his head. “We don't think that we’ve looped right back, but rather... stepped sideways and backwards.”

“Wha…? Explain.”

“Looping back? Who loops back into their younger body? There’s how many? Two hundred and nineteen cases, not including us, and one, **_maybe_** , went back to his younger body, but Horace Bracket was already a brain-damaged squib, so we can’t take that as evidence.” Ares began. “But there are three cases of… for lack of a better term… dimension stepping. And in all three cases, their ages were altered, dramatically, two younger and one older. The bit that confuses us, is that… well… we’re **_all_**  here, all the ages we are and we all arrived within a few days.”

“And your possible theories?”

“It all comes down to Lady Hogwarts and Lady Magic. Snuffles and I went to the Room and spoke with Lady Hogwarts – Oh, her name is Gwen, too, by the way.”

“Gwen?”

“She was Lady Gwendolyn Hogwarts.” Ares stated.

“Right. So, she and Lady Magic, what? Brought us here?”

“As near as we can figure, yes. Once we had an order of action, I made the comment and it was a throw-away comment by the way, that it would have been nice to have a few others with us. Gwen said she’d ask Lady Magic, but I never expected the response we got. We met Cedric, Fred and George less than a fortnight later, but it took another two months before Ced slipped up and mentioned the cemetery. And we didn't meet Lee until our first trip on the Express, four years later.”

“Ah…”

“Yeah, and there’s a few other differences, here. Draco? You’ve seen it. Your father’s not so…” Ares trailed off, he didn’t know how to explain it, but it was kind of obvious to those that remembered.

“Yes, he’s not.”

“And Snape? He’s more… accepting?” The last was asked as a question to the other boys and he got shrugs and tilted heads as answer.

“Eh… He’s not the same git.” Lee shrugged.

“And the manipulator?” Hermione asked.

The third year boys started to laugh.

“Ares and Mars set him back, on the first night of our first year. He’s not after us. He comes and talks to us and not just us, but all the Heirs. And he takes note of what we say, some of it is acted on, some not, but he listens now. And he explains things, why he’s done something or why he’s not done it.” Cedric was the one to explain.

“So, what now?” Neville asked.

“Yeah, cousin, what about us? What’re you going to do with us?” Draco asked.

“Uh… right. We’re going to take over the Ministry. From the inside. The Statute is breaking, guys, you know that and you know how close it was to complete failure.” The three first-years nodded. “So, we decided that the best thing to do, for us, for the Wizarding World in general, was to hide it, not like we’ve been doing. But in plain sight. Think about it…” another half hour passed while the older Fiends explained their plans for the future. “… Then we’ll be so embedded in the muggle society that we’ll be invisible.” Ares finished.

“Alright, but what about the fanatics? The religious ones?”

“It’s the same as with the purebloods, we make it seem like it’s their idea for us to be there. Not the nut on the street, but their leaders, the Pope, the Dali Lama, the Patriarchs. Here in the Wizarding world, it’s going to be the purebloods, lead by Malfoy, Nott, Parkinson, Yaxley and Abbott that are going to be the ones that approach the muggles. And in the muggle world it's going to be the religious leaders and the politicians that respond.” Mars answered.

“How are you going to do that?”

“Myrtle’s brother, Andrew, he’s a priest, works as an aide to the Pope. Ted Tonks? His sister is a secretary to Mrs Thatcher. And there at least five other muggleborns already at Hogwarts that have family in high places, look at Justin, his mother is a lady-in-waiting to Princess Margaret. And if things go the same way, Sprite’s gonna marry Rolf, that brings in Newt and Tina, which gets us Anthony, Gerald and Corrine… and a white house aide.” Ares spread his hands out in a ‘there you go’, manner.

“The biggest prank in the history of pranks.” Mars added.

The three nodded and thought about it for a few moments.

“Where are you gong to put us?” Draco asked.

“Huh. You know… I’m not sure. Ideas?”

“Why not have them be the liaisons?” Cedric asked.

“Liaisons?” Ares asked. “Liaisons to whom?”

“Draco to the Wizengamot. Hermione to the muggles. And Neville to Wizarding public and Hogwarts.” Cedric explained. “The purebloods will accept Draco as a liaison, while the muggles will be happier with someone born in their world and the Wizarding public still remember Nev’s parents.”

“And when we get the potion sorted, they’ll front and centre of the public mind again.” George reminded them.

“Which puts Neville, front and centre in the public mind, too.” Fred added.

Everyone, including the newcomers, nodded. Then Draco tilted his head and frowned, looking at the compartment door.

“Ah… what about the weasel and the weaselette? We’re going to have to work around them…” He paused. “Where is he, did I not see him on the platform?”

Ares’ smile was decidedly vicious and his tone when he spoke was darkly satisfied.

“They won’t be joining us.”

“What? What did you do?”

“Oh, I did nothing. George and Fred did.” Ares answered.

“What did you do?” Hermione asked, frowning.

Fred gave a dark growl.

“Bastards killed my twin.” Ares hoped that there were no listeners, because that was as good as a confession, to being a time traveller. “We didn’t kill them. We just made sure that they were exposed to Mumblemumps a little earlier than... recommended.”

Draco gasped. “No…?!”

“Yeah.” Fred gave a satisfied sigh. “They came out as squibs, almost.”

“And we were happy with that, we saw no need to go any further.” George added.

“But…” Fred grinned. “Mum… couldn’t cope.”

“She couldn’t take it, whether it was the shame of having squibs in the family…”

“… or the guilt of not catching it, before their cores were drained to the point of no return.”

“She went into this melancholy-like state…”

“… and that meant, Dad had to step in.” Fred told them.

“He saw that Mum wasn’t… she tried to smother Bill, Charlie and Percy…”

“… but we got ignored, pretty much.”

“It was like she forgot that we were her children, you know?” George asked.

“And Dad…well, let’s just say he let his inner pureblood shine through.”

“He and Aunt Muriel decided to remove the Family Magics and sent them to live with Mum’s squib cousin. No Family Magics means that they’re basically muggles now and they’re no more likely to have magical children than any other muggle.”

“St Mungo's did a crap load of work on them, they had to have memory alterations and additions... and the Ministry had to get them new identities to go with it.”

“They don’t remember any of us, but Mum and Dad. And they never will, their identification papers give them different parents to us.”

“They could pass us on the street and not know us.” Fred smiled blissfully.

“So, no Weasel or Weaselette. Lovely...” Draco sighed in pleasure.

“Oh, speaking of lovely… Ares? Their trunks?” Lee grinned manically.

“Ooh, yeah.” Mars’ grin wasn’t much better.

“Trunks?” Neville asked.

“Alright.” Ares got to his feet and reached up into luggage rack, pulling down a satchel. His arm disappeared into the satchel, almost to the shoulder, returning with a mess of straps and fabric clutched in his hand. “Here we go. Pinfeathers?” He tossed a matte black swath of fabric at Draco. “Scimitar?” Neville got a dark brown, almost black, tangle. “Tempest?” Hermione’s was a honey-gold. “These have goodies. Special trunks and wands.”

“We have wands.” Draco objected, his hands clutching at his hawthorn wand.

“You do… and we’re not suggesting getting rid of them. What we’ve done is…” Ares grimaced. “Ah… we asked Gwen to… well…” He didn’t know how to put it, so that Hermione wasn’t going to have his head on a chopping block.

“We came to Hogwarts and got Gwen to bring each of you to the Room, unconscious, in both of your Animagi forms, one after the other, and we harvested materials for custom wands.” Mars explained. “A crown feather and claw shavings from your magical form. A whisker and claw shavings from your common form. And enough blood to seal them to your magical signature.”

“Plus, we were lucky, Madam Blishwick made a special bundle for us. Two full size custom wands, one miniature custom wand, one standard inner-arm holster, one decorative, pocket-spaced, wrist holster and one pocket-spaced wrist holster made from a watch.” Ares added.

“What?!” Draco exploded. “That’s… that’s… Bloody hell, Shadow, didn’t you learn anything after the- You know damn well that taking someone’s blood is a one way trip to Nazgûl heaven.” Draco tried to camouflage what he was saying, but he was too frantic.

“Steady on there, Pinfeathers. We covered that with contracts, for us and Madam Blishwick.” Ares assured his cousin.

“Excuse me? I have a question?” Neville held up a hand and when everyone was silent, he went on. “We know who Shadow was, but you?” He pointed at Mars. “Who were you?”

“Third year? He got into the tower, scared the crap of out Ron, slashed the Fat Lady’s portrait and got us a sleepover in the Great Hall.” Hermione answered.

“Si… but… You have got to be joking? She is, right? Right?” Neville begged Ares.

“No, sorry, but she’s not. He was.”

Neville let his head flop back against the seat and knocked it against the cushion repeatedly.

“Ignore him.” Hermione said. “I’m assuming from the fact that all six of you are wearing red and gold, that you’re lions? Where are us three going?” She waved her thumb between her, Neville and Draco.

“Wherever you please.” Mars said. “The Headmaster has reinstated the use of Heir Suites, so as Heirs and Heiress, you’ll have rooms separate to the dorms, Neville and Draco, if you both go to the same house, you’ll have to share a suite. You'll get a sitting room cum office, which you will have to share and a bedroom and a bathroom, that you won't. Hermione, you’ll get the whole suite to yourself, as none of the Gryffindor girls in your year are Heiresses. Let the house elves know that you want a blank wall to put the trunk on, the trunks have the ability for us to get together at any time.” He shrugged. “They’ve got an expanded main room, with a number of wizard-space rooms opening off them. One room, which only those of us that own one of these trunks can access-”

“And Uncle Remus.” Ares reminded his brother.

“Oh, yeah and Uncle Remus, but that’s because the room’s main anchor-door is on the second floor of our cottage at Ottery St Catchpole.” Mars explained.

“I don’t suppose you put some shelves in there for me?” Hermione asked.

“Better.” Ares smirked. “We turned the communal room into our main library. Uncle Remus had the Potter library put in it and Lord Black gave us copies of everything non-fatal from the Black library and archives.”

“Plus, we raided Abernathy’s.” Cedric grinned. “Lord Black gave us a catalogue crystal, so we didn’t end up with multiple copies. That took us four days.”

“I think Mr Abernathy cried in relief when we finished rummaging through his last trunk.” Fred laughed.

“He definitely cried when we paid for what we found.” George added his laughter to his twin’s.

“Most shopkeepers on the Alley though we were either going to Ravenclaw or Slytherin, boy did they get a shock when we got permission for an excursion to Gringotts for the first years and we were wearing red and gold.” Cedric somehow managed to show his amusement, but not actually laugh.

“Yes, I wasn’t expecting Cedric in red and gold, black and gold yes, but not red and gold.” Hermione shook her head.

A tapping at the compartment door had all nine students looking up. Two Ravenclaws, Marcus Belby and Roger Davies, stood outside the door. A flick of Mars’ wand and the privacy charms fell and the door slid open.

“Good afternoon, lions.” Roger said. “Might we have a few minutes of your time? We have an idea we’d like to run passed you, before we approach the Headmaster.”

As always, Cedric was the face of the Fiends, when it came to dealing with other students.

“Sure, come on in.” He waited until they’d entered the compartment before enlarging it further, so the ravens had a seat. “What can we do for you, gentlemen?” Roger raised an eyebrow at the firsties and Cedric answered the unasked question. “They’re ours.”

“Ah.” Roger replied. “We thought about the ‘hide in plain sight’ plan that you and the Headmaster have and we have an idea, that may help.”

Cedric sat forward and narrowed his eyes slightly. “Continue.”

“Well, it was just after the visit to Gringotts,” Roger paused and addresses the three firsties, “Third week of tern, the first-years all visit Gringotts, they get identity testing, inheritance testing and if they don’t have a personal or trust vault, one is started for them. They’re also given information, on how parents and family can make deposits. Depending on financial circumstances, you can also get a coin purse linked to your vault.” He informed them. “So, we were thinking, that maybe we could do something similar for the muggle side of things.”

“We understand that it would still have to be via Gringotts, but they have branches in the muggle world.” Marcus put forward. “That would give the Wizarding raised an overview of muggle money and how investment planning can work in both worlds.”

Cedric held up a hand. “Wait a moment.” He turned the other fiends. “Well?”

“Culture studies?” Fred offered.

“And Economics.” Hermione countered. “Have the Gringotts identity testing separate, as part of Culture, but have the banking in two stages. One in first year, for an overview and to set up accounts or vaults, as necessary, but a second stage, perhaps in second or third year, with an overview of how to set up and manage an investment portfolio in both worlds.”

“If we went that way, it should probably be before electives are chosen for third year.” Fred warned.

“But the idea is sound.” George added. “Should we look at getting it mentioned to the Board as well as the Headmaster?”

“Roger? How much of our input do you want? Just a sounding block or more?” Cedric asked.

“Take it. Fly with it.” Roger answered. “Just…? In a couple of years and it’s well established? Credit us with the idea, but not until then. My younger brother is likely to try and claim it, if you do. Horrid little git, he’s going to ruin the family name, so I’d prefer you to wait until I'm seventeen and can change my name.”

“Fifteen.” Fred and George both corrected.

“What?”

“You still need a Magical Guardian until you are seventeen, but with a guardian’s permission, you can change your name at fifteen.” Fred answered.

“But if you can’t get that permission, there’s always the option of disowning yourself from your paternal family.” George offered. “Remove the family name but not the Magics, though. Got to word it carefully, very carefully.”

“If you decide to go that route, come and see us and we’ll get you in touch with Uncle Remus. He’s in the process of working out a disowning for Fred and George, with their father’s okay, they’ll loose the Weasley name, but keep Prewett.” Mars suggested.

Roger just looked at them, too stunned to speak.

“Thanks.” Marcus spoke up. “I think… I think we’d both like that.”

“Alright, then. We’ll bring it to the Headmaster, tell him that you, without mentioning your names, want to remain anonymous just yet, but that eventually you’ll take credit, but family conflicts restrict you from doing so, right now.” Cedric offered.

Both ravens smiled and sighed in relief.

“Thanks, Diggory.”

“Oh, don’t thank me yet, you haven’t heard the cost.” Cedric warned.

“The cost?” Roger’s eyes widened in alarm.

“Yep. The cost.” Cedric grinned. “We’re going to set up a mentor system, connect up muggle-based and magical-based families. A pureblood family will mentor the children of a muggle-based family for their introduction to the Wizarding world and a muggle-based family will mentor a pureblood child during their intro to the muggle world.”

“Mentoring will consist of home visits during holidays, information on our celebrations, shopping outings, explanations of further education, that sort of thing.” Mars added.

“And before you panic, we’re not asking your families to mentor, what we want, is you to help us set up a student equivalent, at Hogwarts. The idea being that by the time we graduate, we can point out to the Wizengamot, that Hogwarts has been using a student version of the mentor system for a number of years. If it works at Hogwarts, why can’t they do the same?” Ares assured them.

“Um…” Marcus began, then stopped.

“We’ll clear it with the Headmaster, of course. But we don’t think he’s likely to be against it.” Cedric shook his head as he spoke.

“Better you than us.” Marcus grimaced and Roger nodded his agreement.

The six Fiends and the three firsties, just laughed.

“No worries.” Cedric said. “Anything else?”

Marcus and Roger exchanged glances and shook their heads.

“No, that’s it.” Marcus replied. “We’ll leave it with you.” The two ravens quickly nodded to the others and left the compartment.

“Fair warning.” Ares said to the firsties. “This is gonna happen for the rest of the trip. People popping in and out, I mean. So… anything questions, best wait until tonight.”

“Right.” Neville nodded, as did Hermione, but Draco huffed.

“You didn’t answer. These two are going to Gryffindor, but me? Where do you want me to sort?” He asked.

“Like we said, it’s up to you. We’d love to have you in the Den, but it’s your choice.” Ares answered.

Draco huffed as the next tapping came at the door.

“Hi…” A ‘Puff ducked her head around the doorframe. “Um… Can I talk to you guys about something…?” She asked.

 

The first-years marched into the Great Hall, Draco, Neville and Hermione at the rear. Why they were at the rear, the Fiends didn’t know, but that's where they were. They stayed together until Hermione’s name was called.

“Dagworth-Granger, Hermione.” Professor McGonagall called, earning herself a few raised eyebrows. The Dagworth-Granger name was known to anyone who'd sat a Potions OWL.

Hermione walked forward, confident and calm, she knew where she was going, there was little doubt in her mind.

 _‘Ah Miss Dagworth-Granger.’_  A voice sounded in her head. _‘Welcome back to Hogwarts.’_

 _‘Thank you, Aldwin. You sound well.’_  Hermione replied.

_‘Oh, I am. Those Fiends of yours, they have changed Hogwarts and my Lady is pleased with them.’_

_‘I’m not yet certain, that I can say the same, unfortunately.’_  Like the Hat, Hermione spoke in a more formal manner. _‘It t’was a rude awakening, you understand? To wake in a house that you know was destroyed years before, was a shock and I am sorry to say, I did not react well.’_

 _‘Ah… I shall pass that along to my Lady…_ ’ the Hat paused. _‘… and she sends you her sincerest apologies and an explanation. Lady Magic could bring you here, but bringing so many of you, at the time she did, it weakened her and my Lady Hogwarts was the one that had to splice you into your existing bodies.’_

 _‘Splice?’_  Hermione asked.

_‘Perhaps not splice, perhaps it was more a combining of your two beings. A child’s body can only contain so much magic before it erupts and she was able to use one of those eruptions to add your older conciousness, but with your adult memories, you’ve been able to better focus your magic on your wandless usage. Do know that wandless still registers as accidental, at least until the trace is placed on your wand. Then your name is moved from the accidental magic register to the underage magic register, but if you continue with wandless… or you one of the wands that you Fiends provided, you’ll not alert the Ministry?’_

_‘That is good to know.’_ Hermione sighed in relief.

_‘Now, what am I to do with you?’_

_‘You know very well, where I belong, Aldwin.’_

_‘I can’t tempt you with Rowena’s library?’_

_‘No, Aldwin, I went through that, years ago.’_

_‘Hmm… in that case… better be-’_

_‘Aldwin?’_  Hermione interrupted.

_‘Miss Dagworth-Granger?’_

_‘Neville and Draco? The Fiends and I would be much obliged if you would offer them Gryffindor.’_

_‘Ah… we shall see. They may be more suited elsewhere, but… we shall ask my Lady’s opinion.’_

_‘Thank you.’_

_‘Now… where were we…? Oh, yes. Better be_ **Gryffindor!”**  The Hat yelled the name. “With an Heiress’ room, please.” It added a few seconds later.

“My thanks, Master Hat.” The girl curtsied formally, before joining the Fiends at the Gryffindor table.

It was only a few minutes later that Neville slumped down onto the bench beside her and less than a minute later that the Hall was silenced when for the first time ever, a Malfoy was sorted into Gryffindor. Draco joined the lions’ table and waited for the sorting to finish before he leant across Neville and asked Ares a question.

“What’s wrong with them, cousin?” His voice just loud enough to be heard at the other tables, reminding the students that he was Ares and Mars Black’s cousin and therefore it wasn’t all that odd that he’d be in the same house as them.

“I’ve no idea, Draco. Maybe they were expecting you to take after our grandparents?”

“Oh, I hope not, they’ll be very disappointed.” Draco drawled. “Mother and Father have encouraged me to be my own person. Tradition for the sake of tradition gets boring and I’d rather brew my own draughts, than rely on an unknown potioneer.”

“Well said, Mr Malfoy.” Snape said as he walked behind them. “Fiends. Am I to assume from your seatings that you are declaring these three first-years as yours?”

“Yes, Master Snape. Draco, as I’m sure you’re well aware, is our cousin. Neville’s mother was cousin Harry’s godmother, just as Aunt Lily was his godmother and both his parents were close friends of Dad, Uncle James and Uncle Remus.” Ares answered.

“And Miss Dagworth-Granger?”

Ares narrowed his eyes fractionally. “Hermione’s mine, Master Snape. She’s been my friend for many years, almost everything I know, she knows.”

“I see. In that case… Miss Dagworth-Granger? I’ll add your name to the assessment listing, shall I?”

“Yes, please, Master Snape.” Hermione responded sweetly.

 

Three hours later, Hermione, along with Neville, Draco, Susan Bones and Blaise Zabini, had met with the Headmaster and four Heads of house, to discuss their needs as Heirs and Heiresses to their Families, had been shown to their private rooms and left to settle in. Hermione had quickly set up her trunk as per Ares directions and was ready to enter their so called library.

She took a few deep breaths, consciously relaxed her shoulders and stepped into the trunk’s doorway. A pleasant room done in cream and blue, met her gaze, soft and warm, it wasn’t large, just fifteen-by-thirty foot, but for a space inside a six-by-three-by-one foot box, it was huge. There were three groupings of doors and Hermione set off to explore them.

To the right of the entrance door, as she was calling it, was first a bathroom and toilet, the second door was a kitchen/dining area with a laundry room. The third was a bedroom that would make her mother jealous, a massive king-size bed, en-suite and walk-in wardrobe.

The group of doors to the left of the entrance hosted more doors. One, a large bare space, that according to the chalkboard, was for charms and transfiguration. One was set up as a potions lab and Hermione could see Snape’s influence in the layout. The third door opened onto a space that made Hermione catch her breath and hope to heaven that none of the Hogwarts Professors knew about. It was a Ritual Room, complete with protection runes on the walls and ceiling. A fourth door lead to a rock-walled garden and greenhouse, bales of loam and potting mix sitting at ready, waiting to be used.

That left just one door, the one opposite the entrance door. Hermione pushed the door open and looked inside, suddenly nervous.

“Hey, Mione.” Mars’ voice greeted her. “Come on in, the water’s fine.” He yelped as Ares whacked him with a book as he went passed.

“Tempest, welcome to our humble library.” Ares grinned.

Hermione, though made no retort, right that moment she wasn’t _**capable**_ of speech, she stood there, dumbfounded and Ares, of course, understood and left her to absorb the sheer number of books held by the shelves around them. Perhaps not as many as Hogwarts, but it couldn’t be much less than 50,000. It was a small-ish room, litle more than twice the size of the one in her trunk, but it was clear that the shelves had been charmed to hold far more books than would be possible without magic.

But even the draw of books couldn’t hold Hermione’s attention, not over the presence of her best friend and eventually she made her way across the room, absently smacking Fred, George and Mars across the back of the head, as she passed behind their seats. Finding a clear space on the sofa that Ares was lounging on, she plopped down beside him.

“So…” She started and discovered that she didn’t know what to say.

“Yeah…” Ares was feeling much the same. He slung an arm around the, now younger, girl and hugged her close to his side. “I missed you, Mione.” He whispered, burying his face in her hair.

“Aw… they’re so cute.” Fred said to George.

“School sweethearts.” George agreed.

Ares and Hermione exchanged glances and without saying a word, sent a pair of hexes at the redheads, turning them both purple. Skin, clothes and hair.

“Lovely.” Remus sighed, shaking his head at them all. “Not five minutes and _**already**_ the colour hexes are being pulled out. Why did I sign up for this?”


	6. Chapter 6

**Saturday, 21 st of December 1991.**

Hermione sat and waited patiently for her parents to absorb all the information she’d just given them, knowing it would take them a while. Anything up to an hour would pass before Aaron and Juliet Granger would enter the living world again, it was just the way their minds worked. Aaron would be replaying every word Hermione had said, while Juliet would be envisioning it as a film.

After twenty minutes, Hermione stood and made her way to the kitchen, a cup of tea sounded good, she’d talked for long enough to warrant one. Quietly and calmly, she made a pot of tea and using the wandless magic that she’d practiced with the boys, she summoned the lemon drizzle cake that Ares had sent with her, just for this very reason. Once the tray was ready, she took a deep breath and floated it back to the sitting room and her statue-like parents.

It took three cups and a fresh pot of tea before there was movement. First her mother and then her father, but eventually both adults blinked and began to move.

“Mione, my love?” Aaron asked.

“Yes, Daddy?” She replied.

“When? When did you… combine, you said?”

“Yes, Daddy.” She answered. “And I’m not exactly certain of the time, but I know the date. Harry’s fifth birthday, 31stof July 1985. From what I was told by Aldwin, the Sorting Hat, Lady Magic brought us here and Lady Hogwarts was the one to… combine us.”

“I see.” He hummed in thought even as his hands sort out the teapot and poured tea for himself and Juliet.

“Thank you, dear.” His wife commented absently, her mind still dwelling on Hermione’s tale.

“So…?” Aaron drawled. “Where do you go now? What direction?”

“Well…” Hermione shrugged. “I’d like it if you’d let me go to Sorrell Cottage for Yule, even more if you’d come too.”

“Yule?”

“Yes, Daddy. Yule.”

“What’s entailed in Yule? For you?”

She knew he meant for the Wizarding world, not just her. “Well, there’s the Log. We’ll go hunting and find a suitable piece of wood, usually oak or rowan. We prefer it to be a fallen log or if we can’t find a suitable fallen one, we’ll offer a tree a gift in exchange for a branch. The branch or log is brought to the house and carried through every door in the house, to bless the doors and those that pass through them. Then it’s taken back outside and divided up. A main log is kept back for burning, but if it’s a live branch we also keep a small piece to go above the hearth that we encourage to re-root so we can plant it for the Spring Solstice. Each person that’s present gets a small twig or piece of bark and once the main log is burning, they offer the flames their piece of bark, as thanks for the fire’s guiding light during the year.”

“Right.” Aaron nodded, waving a hand to encourage her to continue.

“Then we have a feast, again offering a small sample of each dish. The same deal as with the log. After that? It’s presents. We give our gifts on Yule as opposed to Christmas, but we put the same thought and care and love behind each gift. Yes, Uncle Remus will probably give us a small box with certain things. A candle to light our way through the coming winter. A coin, so we are never penniless. A packet of seeds, that we might grow with the new year. A loaf of bread, that we might not go hungry. A cloak or blanket, to keep us warm when our loved ones aren’t with us. A square of woven cloth, to remind us of those that are woven into our lives. And a seedling, usually of whatever timber our wands are made from and some time in the next year, we’ll take a cutting from that seedling to the wand-maker that made our wands. That cutting will be trimmed and a sliver will be inserted into our wand.” Seeing the look of confusion on her father’s face, Hermione quickly explained. “It refreshes the wand-wood and the connection between the wood, the wand-core and our magic. Particularly if we’ve tended the seedling personally. Handling it, watering it, pulsing our magic through it. There’s a little more involved, but it’s different for each person. More a personal choice of how much of ourselves we open to the seedling.” She didn’t know how to explain it.

“I see.” And strangely enough, Aaron felt that he did see, did understand. In this, at least. “And what do you hope to achieve over these holidays?”

“Other than to enjoy the holidays with both sets of people that matter to me? Nothing, Daddy.” Hermione huffed.

“Really? Should I be disappointed? You’ve been very… ambitious in your academic goals, these last few years. Why not now?”

“I don’t need to be, Daddy. I know what I’m capable of. I know what my boys are capable of. Our challenges won’t really come until we’re out of Hogwarts. That’s when we’re going to have to work hard, really hard. Now? It’s a refresher course, with just a enough new subjects to keep us interested.”

“Your boys?” Juliet finally spoke up.

“Yes, Mummy. My boys. Ares was my best friend, Harry. We went through Hogwarts, we went through Horcruxe hunting and we went through the Ministry, together all the way. Fred and George were in Gryffindor with us last time, but like this time, they’re older than u- than I am. Cedric… he was in a different house, but his… his death shaped Harry’s life, in a way.” Hermione answered.

“And the other two. No, three. The other three?” Aaron asked.

“Four, Daddy. Draco, Neville, Lee and Mars. Draco was our nemesis at school, in just about everything, right until the end. It was during the final battle, that he realised that the person he was fighting for, wasn’t fighting for him and didn’t care about him at all. And Harry, who’d been his rival for years? Harry risked his own life for Draco, to save him from a fire that Draco’s people started. It was a wake-up call for him. Ares says that it changed him, in a good way.” She shrugged. “Neville? Well… Neville was… Neville. That’s all you can say. He’s good, kind, honest and a true Gryffindor. Lee was Fred and George’s best mate, their partner in pranks and like them, he stood by Harry.”

“And the other boy? Marc?”

“Mars. Mars was Sirius Black, the man that… However they did this, Mars and Ares have made Sirius Black into their father. They used Bloodline Conversions, which are complicated and messy and… the actual process is not very nice, but the end result is Harry Potter is now Ares Black, Sirius Black is now Mars Black and according to Lady Magic, Mars and Ares are the sons of Sirius Black. Super confusing and not a little mind-bending. But… that’s magic for you.”

Aaron and Juliet exchanged a long speaking look, before Juliet asked the next question.

“Can we expect one of these boys to… will you be bringing one of them home formally? Romantically?”

“Mummy!” Hermione objected. “I’m twelve years old. I-”

“Hermione Jean Granger. We know you better than that. I will admit that I didn’t expect time travelling to be the cause, but… only your body is twelve, darling. Now… answer the question, darling.” Juliet was not going to be deterred.

Hermione stared at her mother, a slight frown marring the smoothness of her forehead. She really didn’t want to answer, but she knew her mother, the woman wanted an answer and she wasn’t going to be happy until she got it.

 

 

**Tuesday, 1 st of September 1992.**

A tapping at their compartment door made the Fiends, now numbering nine, to look up. A tiny blonde firstie stood at the door, her big blue eyes wide, giving her a startled look.

“Hello, Fiends.” She said calmly. “May I join you?”

“Certainly.” Cedric said, still not sure if the girl remembered or not.

“Thank you, Cedric. How do you like being a lion?” She tilted her head at him. “Red and gold suit you better than black and gold.”

Well, that answered that question.

“I like it. I like having brothers.” Cedric answered.

“And sisters?” She asked.

“Well… considering that Hermione could flatten me if she tried and I didn’t have much to do with you…? Sisters are good.” Cedric answered hesitantly.

The girl beamed. She just… beamed.

“Well, come on, in here.” Draco huffed. “You’re blocking the door, Sprite.”

There was no need for further introductions, everyone knew everyone.

“So, Luna…? Question?” Ares asked.

“Yes, Ares.” Luna turned to the twins. “Oh, hello, Mars.” She added.

“Hey.” He answered, waving at her.

“Is this it? Or will there be others?” Ares asked, he figured if anyone knew it would be Luna.

“No, it’s just us and Astoria.” She tilted her head in thought, as Draco sighed in relief. He’d missed his wife. “Do we need more? Lady Magic likes what you’re doing, she’d probably bring more if you asked. But it could get a bit complicated if you do.”

“Thanks, but I’m kinda happy with what we have.” Ares assured her and pulled out a square of folded fabric. “Here, this is for you.” He held it out in front of him, but still a few feet from her.

“My trunk and wands?” Her eyes lit up and she reached out her hands and made grabby motions. “Gimme, gimme, gimme.” She chanted the words and her smile got even larger when Mars snatched the fabric from Ares and passed it to her.

“Not nice, teasing the firstie, Ares.” Mars mock-frowned.

“Ooh, is Mars sweet on Luna?” Fred asked with a cheeky grin.

“Me thinks he is.” George agreed.

“Knock it off, you two.” Mars growled.

Draco sat back with a smirk. “Ares has Mione. And now, it looks like Mars has Luna.” He turned to the other boys. “Who have you four got?”

“Us?” Spluttered Cedric. “What about you?”

“Gods, you lot are blind.” Lee shook his head.

“What?” Cedric asked.

“What’d we miss?” Fred wanted to know.

Hermione and Luna exchanged glances and shook their heads.

 

**Wednesday, 1 st of September 1993.**

The Fiends, all of them, smiled gently as Draco escorted Astoria Greengrass into their compartment.

“It went well, then?” Cedric asked, knowing how worried the blonde boy had been about the signing.

“It did.” Draco replied.

“Yes, Father and Lord Malfoy signed our betrothal contract.” Astoria added quietly.

“On the Summer Solstice. Just like Luna suggested.” Draco continued. “Father also wants to know when you lot are going to put your own contracts in place?”

“Ah…” Mars grimaced.

“Mione’s parents and Uncle Remus did ours the same day, but earlier in the morning. Lord Black is being stubborn about Luna.” Ares answered brightly. “Suggestions?”

“Not needed, Ares. Cousins Narcissa and Andy have him in hand. He’ll give his approval before Yule.” Luna smile at them.

“Ah, in that case.” Ares nodded. “We’ll leave them to it.”

“That would be best.” The blonde girl agreed.

A tapping at the window revealed a dignified owl hovering outside the still stationary train. Fred, being the closest, opened the window and the owl fluttered inside, it held out a leg to Cedric and waited patiently. Cedric raised an eyebrow to his brothers and when they all shrugged, he subtly flicked his wand over the owl and it’s burden, upon seeing no reactionary lights, he offered the owl a treat from his pocket and accepted the envelope. The owl bobbed it’s head and took the treat, flying back out the window with the treat unswallowed.

“What’s that, then?” Mars asked, pointing his chin at the offending parchment.

“I have no idea, Smoke.” Cedric looked at the folded parchment, he wasn’t expecting anything, so where did it come from? He turned it over and gasped.

“The Wizengamot?” He whispered, holding it so the others could see the official Wizengamot seal.

“Ooh. That looks important.” Luna teased.

Cedric squinted at her. “You know about this, don’t you?”

“Yes.” She beamed. “Open it. It’s good news.”

Cedric huffed, but his fingernails lifted the seal and he opened the folded sheet.

“Read it aloud?” Ares asked, not sure whether Cedric would want to read it to himself first. Cedric cleared his throat before starting.

 _“Dear Mr Diggory. It has been brought to the attention of a number of members of the Wizengamot that you are the originator behind a mentoring system that was introduced into Hogwarts, by the student body. We understand that this system partners a muggle raised child with a Wizarding raised child.”_  He took a shuddering breath. _“This system had been in place for only two years but already there has been a marked alteration in student exams and participation in external activities, both muggle and Wizarding. We believe that this system may have benefits to the greater Wizarding community. Unfortunately, we do not have a grasp of the finer details that we have been told exist. Therefore, we would like to discuss the matter with you in person.”_ He huffed in astonishment. _“With the first two weeks of term not having classes for the advanced students, we are hoping that you, and your advisors, would be available to meet with a small delegation from the Ministry. Included in this delegation would be representatives from a number of departments, including the Aurors, the Improper Use of Magic, Wizengamot Administration Services, the Muggle Liaison Office, the Obliviators, the Office of Misinformation, Public Information Services, the Magical Research Committee, the Department of Magical Education and the Minister’s Office._ ” He paused while Fred whistled.

“Holy hell, that’s a small delegation?” The other redhead demanded.

Cedric ignored him and kept speaking. _“With this in mind, we the Wizengamot, have formed a temporary department to trial your mentoring system, if successful after two years of implementation and we see similar alterations as have taken place at Hogwarts, this department will become permanent. At that point in time the Muggle Liaison Office will be subsumed into the new department, which will be titled simply as The Liaison Office and will monitor Wizarding relations with not only the muggles, but with other races, including Centaurs, Goblins, Vampires, Veela and Werewolves.”_ Cedric paused while Fred whistled again. “ _With this in mind, we would like to suggest that you and your advisors be attached to this department as consultants, at least for the trial period, but preferably in a more permanent position. We also understand that as minors, you and your advisors in turn, should seek the advice of your guardians and as such we highly recommend that you do so. We anticipate a response from you no sooner than Monday 6 thof September. Your sincerely, Tiberius Ogden, Chair of the Mentor Trial.”_ He laid the parchment down on his lap and looked at his chosen brothers and sisters. “Are we ready to do this?” One by one he looked at the others and one by one, they nodded. “Alright, we’ll talk to Master Snape, Uncle Remus and Professor Beeson, this evening and send Dad and Andi a quick note asking them to be ready for a lengthy ChatterBowl call this weekend.”

“Why not have them go to the cottage, that way we can meet them all in the library?” Hermione asked.

“No, not yet. Professor Beeson’s not ready for the library yet and we should ask the Headmaster to join us, he’s got a few ideas that we might be able to use.” Luna corrected. “By the end of the summer, Professor Beeson will be ready for our library.” She paused and hummed. “Oh and Daddy is going to Bhutan for Yule, can I stay with you, Mione?”

Hermione shrugged. “Sure, Mum and Dad like you, I can’t see them objecting, but I’ll give them a call this weekend and ask.”

“Thank you.” Luna leant back against Mars’ shoulder and began to hum the theme to the Addams Family movie.

“And we’re all okay with meeting this delegation?” Cedric brought them back on track to confirm their agreement.

“As long as Umbitch isn’t invited.” Ares snarled.

“Uh, Ares? Umbitch is dead, she was killed years ago.” Neville reminded them.

“What? When? How? Why didn’t someone tell me?” Ares demanded.

“Well… It’s been kinda kept under wraps.” Neville grimaced.

“What happened?”

“It… um… She was illegally breeding kneazles, trying to breed the magic out of them by crossing them with cats.”

“Don’t lots of breeders cross them with cats?” Mars asked, not understanding.

“Yeah, but she wasn’t just crossing them, she was using charms on them.” Neville warned.

“To do what?” Ares asked.

“No one’s really sure. She was either trying to cut their connections to their core or remove it completely.” The younger boy answered.

“So the kneazles killed her?” Ares huffed. “Fitting.”

“No.” Neville laughed. “Even better. She drowned in kitty litter.”

The entire compartment was silent for a few seconds and then the laughter started. One of them would get themselves under control, only to look at someone else and lose it, again. All in all, it took the train lurching into motion before the group settled, each of them holding their ribs and alternately chuckling or groaning at the ache.

“How?” Ares snickered.

“Again, no one’s really sure and Grandma said the Wizengamot didn’t care enough to investigate too far. The Aurors said her kitchen was full to the ceiling with the stuff, but that they did find a torn bag, with a badly laid never-out charm. So the easy theory is… she did the charm herself, badly, and the charm backfired, split the bag and… filled kitchen. But as Grandma says, ‘who cares? She’s gone and that’s the important bit’. I don’t think Grandma liked her very much.” Neville shrugged. “It never got to the papers. It was a Ministry owned property, so they just demolished it and sold the land to the Welsh Dragon Preserve people.”

That set Ares and Hermione off again.

“Ah, what’s with them?” Mars asked.

“Umbitch was completely against creatures, any creatures. She didn’t care if they were centaurs, elves, dragons, giants, hippogriffs or nifflers. They were creatures and so, they were disgusting and didn’t deserve to be recognised.” Neville explained.

“So… she got what she deserved, then?” Mars’ question was almost a statement.

 

**Saturday, 30 th of July 1994.**

Neville paced nervously around his parents’ room. St Mungo's wards were depressing, especially the Janus Thickery Long-Term ward and the room housing Frank and Alice Longbottom was no different. Dull mint green walls, murky blue-green linoleum flooring and heavy white-painted cast iron beds, did little to brighten the space. Not even the cards and colourful flowering plants could do that.

Logically Neville knew that his parents shouldn’t be showing many signs of waking, not yet. But logic and magic don’t always see eye to eye. And today was a perfect example.

It had been less than thirty-six hours since Ares and Neville had snuck in and… encouraged… the Longbottoms to swallow the Cruciatus Recovery potion that the Fiends had prepared. And no one had expected a reaction this quickly. Neville remembered it being many days before his parents began to react and weeks before they were able to hold a coherent conversation. But as Ares had told Hermione, they hadn’t stepped backward, but sideways and this was just another minor difference. Like Lucius Malfoy not being quite the same fanatical Death-Eater that they remembered, like Snape not being quite the same abusive git, like Dumbledore actually doing the right thing, the Longbottoms sidestepping the weeks of progress, just seemed to be just another point of difference between the place the Fiends had come from and where they were now.

The three healers bustled around the room, moving from one bed and back to the other. tossing this scan at Alice, before hurrying over to cast another scan at Frank, then scurrying back to Alice to cast yet another scan.

Back and forth. Back and forth.

Mars, the ever irreverent Mars, caught Neville’s attention as he paced passed.

“The healers are running around like squirrels, checking on their acorns before winter sets in.” The older boy said.

Neville stopped in his tracks and looked at Mars. A glint in his eye made Mars step back quickly, shaking his head, he knew that glint, it was usually the precursor to a dare. And all the Fiends knew that Mars could rarely resist Neville’s dares, someone else’s, sure. But not Neville’s.

And sure enough, Neville opened his mouth.

“Mars?” He growled. “ I dare you to say that so that they can hear you, then keep your mouth shut for the next three hours.” He raised an eyebrow in challenge.

“No, no, no.” Mars whined. “Not today.”

“No? You sure?” Neville’s grin was an evil thing.

“I’m sure. Ares said, he’ll make me a batch of chocolate and peanut-butter Swiss rolls with butterscotch-mallow icing.” Mars whined. “And I **_want_**  it.”

“Are you sure?” Neville knew exactly how much Mars liked the gooey treat.

“I’m not listening to you. I’m not listening to you.” Mars closed his eyes, covered his ears with his hands and began to hum the tune from the Flintstones movie that they’d seen the weekend before, as a part of Neville’s birthday outings.

“Oh, leave him be, Nev. He’s been really good this week. Really good. He knows how much this means to you.” Ares whispered in Neville’s ear as he turned the younger boy to face the healers. “And they do look like squirrels.”

Neville huffed, but he looked at the room and the way the healers scurried about.

“Huh… Wadda ya know? Mars was right. They do look like squirrels before winter.”

As one all the healers turned to Neville, their faces varying expressions of dismay.

“Neville.” His grandmother chided. “That’s not a nice thing to say.”

“Grandma, I did not disparage their abilities nor their skill, I merely commented on the appearance they presented.” Neville replied. “They are scurrying around like squirrels checking on their caches.”

“Mr Longbottom…” An officious healer started, only to be cut off by Neville.

“Heir Longbottom, healer Rudlow.” Neville’s voice lost the soft, gentle tone and became hard. “That is the third time you have failed to address me correctly. Yesterday, I informed what would happen should you be so disrespectful again. Head Healer Stapleton, I want this… man… removed from my presence, he longer has the right to attend a member of House Longbottom.”

“But-” Rudlow objected.

“Now, Healer Stapleton.” Neville stated, bluntly.

“Most certainly, Heir Longbottom.” The Head healer, a tall man with a smattering of grey through his black hair, turned to the officious healer and spoke. “Out, now. And consider yourself fired. You have been warned a number of times, regarding familiarity. No more. Go. Sign out and leave the premises.” When the younger healer just stood there, Stapleton lifted his wand a fired a mild stinging hex at the man. “Now. Go.” Stapleton turned back to Neville. “I apologise, Heir Longbottom, he has been warned in the past, that his behaviour was inappropriate and he obviously has chosen to ignore that warning. That is not acceptable.” He bowed to Neville and Dowagger Longbottom.

“Apology accepted, Healer Stapleton.” Neville dipped his head in acknowledgement. “Now, can you tell me? What of my parents’ conditions?”

“Exceptionally good, sir. Lady Longbottom is showing clear signs of improvement. Her hand-eye co-ordination is markedly improved and she is able to respond to verbal stimulus. And Lord Longbottom is even further improved. He is capable of speech, some recognition and his hand-eye co-ordination is… according to Healer Matthews who shared a dorm with him at Hogwarts… as good as it ever was.” He paused an hummed. “There was mention of broken brooms and a ban on flying?”

A voice from behind Stapleton, spoke up.

“Mike’s a t-tattle-t-tale.” It said and all present turned to the speaker.

Frank Longbottom lay on a hospital bed, wearing a simple hospital robe and covered by a light cotton blanket, his face tired and drawn, but his eyes were bright and aware.

“Frank…?” Augusta Longbottom looked at her son in shock, not quite able to understand what was happening.

“Ma…” Frank whispered, his voice rough and cracked. “M-mike owes me, h-he swore t-to not say anything. W-we made a d-deal. I’d stay quiet about h-his b-book collection and he’d stay quiet about m-my brooms.” He shook his head as though to get rid of a ringing in his ears. “What happened? Last I remember is…” He frowned, thinking hard. His eyes narrowed, then widened. He snapped into a sitting position, a glare on his face and a snarl on his lips. “Bloody Crouch, how frigging dare he bring the Lestranges to my house! I’ll skin the whiny little git! String him up by his toes and let Alice castrate the pervert!” His threats of physical bodily harm to Bartemius Crouch jnr and the three Lestranges went on for minutes.

“Well…” Stapleton ignored the invectives coming from the bed. “I think we can safely say that Lord Longbottom is in full control of his mental faculties.” He frowned at Mars and Ares who were studiously listening to Frank. “Boys?” He warned. “Don’t be taking too much notice. I doubt that Lord Longbottom would approve.”

“I do.” Augusta corrected. “Ares and Mars aren’t listening to the threats, they’re listening to their friend’s father, so that later they can put the memory in a pensieve for Neville to watch.”

“It lets me concentrate on the healers and that side of things, knowing that later I can watch their memories and concentrate on Mum and Dad.” Neville added to Augusta’s explanation.

“Oh… I see, yes, that’s… that’s a very good idea.” Stapleton blinked.

“Those boys see Neville as a brother. Their Uncle is listed as Neville’s crisis guardian and has welcomed us into his home.” Augusta said.

“Enough about that. What about Mum and Dad? What now?” Neville demanded.

“Ah… well… if Lady Longbottom continues to respond as she’s done until now, I can see both Lord and Lady Longbottom being released before Yule. Lord Longbottom may be showing control of his mental faculties, but his physical being needs attention, too. Unfortunately that’s not something that Magic can correct, it needs time and care. Now that he’s aware and responsive, we can start a physical therapy regime, that will require a larger food intake and constant monitoring. Yes, both are semi-mobile, but they need to be a lot more mobile before I’d consider releasing them. I don’t require them to be at peak fitness, but they must be able to walk from one end of the ward to the other, without collapsing. They must also be able to eat a full meal and keep it down. Then there’s the nerve issues to take into consideration… We can’t really judge that until they are fully aware and can understand when we ask them to grade their control in comparison to prior to their admittance.”

So far, everything that Stapleton had said was pretty much as Neville remembered it being from his adult memories. Stapleton was a little more conscientious than Augustus Pye had been, but that could easily be just the difference in personalities and experience.

“Thank you, Healer Stapleton. Will we be able to visit?” Neville asked.

“Of course. And I understand that you’re going into fourth year, correct?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And as an Heir you are able to leave Hogwarts each weekend?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Then, I’ll writ up a request that you be given permission to leave Hogwarts and attend some of Lord and Lady Longbottom’s therapy sessions.” Stapleton declared.

“Perhaps…?” Augusta trailed off.

“Perhaps…?” Stapleton repeated.

“Know Neville and his friends, I believe it would be better if my grandson were to have their support.” She paused and Ares spoke up.

“Neville will always have our support, Grandma Augusta.”

“Oh, yes, **_I_**  know that, but I think it’s time to make that known to the public. Let it be official.” Augusta replied. Ares blinked, he wasn’t sure what she was getting at. “Frank, dear?”

“Ma?” Frank answered, his voice wobbly.

“Do you know who these young people are?”

“No, Ma.” Frank frowned at the gathered teenagers. “Some of them look familiar, but… No, I don’t know them.”

“The red haired twins are Fred and George, they are the Heirs Prewett and will take the Lordship Rings at the Summer Solstice. Next to them is Cedric Diggory, he is Amos’ son and beside him is Lee, Carlo Jordan’s boy. The blonde young man is Draco Malfoy and the lovely girl on his arm is his betrothed Astoria Greengrass. The other two young ladies are Miss Luna Lovegood and Miss Hermione Dagworth-Granger. The two dark haired louts are Mars and Ares.” She paused and took a deep breath. “Mars and Ares are Sirius Black’s sons. They-” she was cut off by Frank’s laughter, deep and belly-shaking. She waited patiently until he settled to chuckles, before continuing. “Mars, as you probably guessed is Heir Black and is betrothed to Luna. Ares is Heir Potter and betrothed to Mione. They-”

“What about Harry?” Frank’s voice was hard and cold.

Mars stepped forward. “Lord Longbottom, our cousin Harry…? He’s… he’s dead.”

Stapleton stepped up beside the lad. “He was found in a muggle hospital, badly beaten. Their healers were doing everything they could, but he just wasn’t responding. I was the healer on rotation that week and I… I couldn’t do anything to help. His core was fractured and… there was so much damage, not even magic could have saved him.” The healer finished on a whisper, it hurt his heart to know that he not been able to save the child.

“We brought Harry home and buried him beside his parents, Uncle Frank.” Ares stood beside Neville, a hand on his shoulder.

Frank frowned. “Where is Sirius?”

“Oh, boy…” Ares muttered. “There’s a lot to tell you, to bring you up to date.”

“Which one are you?” Frank’s frown didn’t lessen.

“Ares.”

“Right, Ares. Where… is… Sirius… Black?”

“You know that he wasn’t Uncle James and Aunt Lily’s Secret Keeper?” When Frank nodded, Ares continued. “Well, after they were killed, Dad realised that Peter Pettigrew had to have told the Death-Eater where they were. So he went after the rat. Unfortunately he didn’t tell anyone. There was an explosion and people died, Dad was arrested and sent to Azkaban for their murders. He died there, when we were seven years old. Just a week before Pettigrew was captured and Dad cleared of all charges.”

“Oh, god…” Frank moaned.

“We live with our Uncle Remus, now.” Ares went on. “Actually, most of us do. Us boys, anyway. Fred and George? They came to live with us just weeks after Mama was killed. Cedric two months later. Lee started staying with us after we started Hogwarts. Neville and Draco spend a good part of the holidays with us. And the girls? Well, cousin Narcissa, cousin Andi or Grandma Augusta comes to stay when the girls come over.”

“Malfoy?” Frank frowned again. “Wasn’t he a…?”

“Not really.” Draco answered, shrugging. “He followed Grandfather’s orders, at least until cousin Harry got rid of the snake-faced git.” He snorted as all the teenagers nodded, sharply. “Now, he’s quite pleased that I can go with my cousins to the movies or to a museum, without having to worry about someone idiot in a white mask, trying to kill me or anyone around us.”

Frank’s eyes narrowed in thought.

“He’s not anti-muggle?” He asked.

“Not really, it kinda depends on the person. Some of them are really stupid, but hell… so are the Goyles.” Draco answered.

“Ain’t that the truth?” Frank grimaced.

“Perfect example of the downside of having an isolated community.” Draco nodded.

“Alright. Ma? What’s the point?” Everyone could see that Frank was tired and just getting more so, with each minute.

“Ares is Heir Potter and Mars is Heir Black. A Longbottom has always guarded the back of a Potter. I believe we should formalise that allegiance, Frank.”

“You want us to declare a House Affiliation?” Frank’s eyes widened.

“I do.”

“You know what it will cost us, if you’re wrong? Is it worth it?”

“Yes, to both. More to the point, I know that if you force Neville to choose, between them and House Longbottom? We will loose. Aligning the House behind them, is just a matter of timing, son. Now, while I am regent? Later, when you are fully recovered? Or later again, when Neville is Lord? If we do this now? We have the support of Houses Potter and Black, during your recovery. We-”

“Potter, Black and Malfoy.” Draco corrected.

“And Diggory.” Cedric added.

“And Greengrass.” Said Astoria.

“Prewett, too.” Fred and George spoke together.

Luna nodded to Hermione. “Lovegood and Dagworth-Granger, as well.” Hermione answered for both herself and Luna.

“In short, Madam Longbottom. If you ally with Ares and Mars, you ally with _**all**_ of us.” Lee informed them. “We are Fiends and the Fiends are the Marauders’ Legacy. We stand together in everything.”

“Together.” All eleven teenagers spoke together.

“Right.” Frank goggled at them. “House Affiliation it is.”

 

**Friday, 1 st of September 1995.**

“I understand that, Headmaster, but please…? Please understand that the Fiends… I can’t teach them anything more!” Severus Snape finally snapped. “All of them have completed their NEWT level studies, all of them. Even Miss Lovegood and Miss Greengrass. In particular, Miss Greengrass? I am firmly of the opinion that Miss Greengrass will make an excellent Potions Mistress and I doubt that it will take her long, certainly within the next four years.”

Albus Dumbledore stilled, it was rare that Snape extolled the skills of his students. Yes, he was more… comfortable with the Fiends, but Dumbledore thought that was just familiarity. For him to declare, there was nothing more to teach a student?

Maybe it was time to reassess the examining of students. Griselda Marchbanks had been encouraging it for almost forty years and with the reintroduction of the Heir assessments, grading of students was all over the castle. Perhaps it **_was_**  time to judge a student solely on their abilities?

“Very well, Severus, do you think it possible to get me a listing of your students stating their examination level? Perhaps… Should I be asking the other Professors, too, do you think? Or have I left it too late?” Dumbledore asked.

“I don’t know about the other Professors, but I can have a listing for you within the hour.” Snape offered.

“Please do. And if you would be so kind as to speak to the other Professors, it appears I need to have a word with Madam Marchbanks and the WEA. Griselda has been after me to acknowledge prior and external learning for quite some time and I think I now understand her position.” He sighed.

Snape winced. “I wish you good luck, Headmaster, I think you may need it.”

 

**Friday, 8 th of September 1995**

“Welcome, ladies and gentlemen. Please find a seat and we shall begin.” Dumbledore stated. Once the group of students were seated, he continued. “It has been brought to my attention, by a number of staff that for many of our students, their levels of educational competencies are very different to what is expected for someone of their age. This can have both good and bad consequences. For those of you here in this room, it is a good thing.” He smiled at them, his eyes twinkling brightly. “All of you have been assessed by your Professors as being ready for your formal exams. For some that will come as a surprise to you, for others, not so much. Some are ready for your OWLs and some for your NEWTs… and for a few…? Your Professors believe that some of you are ready to sit **_both_**  your OWLs **_and_**  your NEWTs.” He was met by a low hum of excitement. “There are thirty-one of you present, representing all four school houses. When I release you, please present to your head of house, who will notify you of the exam, or exams, for which you are eligible to sit.” Almost all the students looked for their house heads when they heard this, but the Headmaster was alone.

He smiled at the excitement and anticipation he could see on the students’ faces. Only a few looked concerned or unsure.

“Good, good. Now, Hufflepuffs? As I’m sure most of you are aware, Professor Sprout has classes this morning and she also states that as she was not the most… **_academic_**  of students… she has asked Professor Vector to assist you today. And as the weather today is very… Scottish… Professor Vector has set up office in the Long Gallery. Slytherin? Professor Snape also has classes this morning and has asked Professor Lupin to stand in for him, however… his class this morning is only a single, so if you prefer, you may wait and see Professor Snape. It is, as always, your choice. Ravenclaws? Professor Flitwick will be in the Charms classroom and will be available until 2pm and again after 4pm. Gryffindors? Professor McGonagall wishes me to remind you that she has second years from 10am to midday and fourth years from 2pm to 4pm. Outside of those times she will be in the Transfiguration classroom.” He waited for each group to nod their understanding. “Lovely. The next thing you need to know, is that if you decide to go ahead and sit the exams that you’ve been approved for, you will be excused from classes until that exam happens. There are choices each of you will have to make. Do you sit the exam? And if so, when? There are a number of choices, OWLs can be sat starting on the 3rd of October or with the rest of the fifth years in June. NEWTs can be sat starting on the 17th of October or… in June with the seventh years. And for those that wish to sit both exams, you can choose early for OWLs and June for NEWTs, if you so desire.” There were a few heads nodding in contemplation at this snippet of information.

“Take some time and think about it. Once you’ve spoken with the Professors, find somewhere quiet and think about it some more. Do not make a hasty decision, that you may come to regret. You will not get a second chance. If you nominate to sit your OWLs in October, that will be the only time the WEA will assess you.” A few faces fell, but even they nodded in acceptance. “Good. Now, off you go, the Professors are waiting.” He flicked his fingers and the doors of the Great Hall opened and after a few seconds, students rose from their seat and trundled out into the school.

 

The bell for the last class had rung and the Fiends had all had a chance to speak to Professor McGonagall. Now they were all gathered in their library, chairs pulled up to a table.

“Well?” Remus asked. “Who’s going first?”

As one, they turned to Cedric.

“Me? Why is it always me?” He muttered.

“You’re the one that’s going to be Minister, Ced.” George reminded him.

“Is it too late to back out?” Cedric whined and the others all nodded. “Bugger.”

“So…?” Remus raised an eyebrow and opened his hands in a ‘well?’ gesture.

“NEWTs starting on the 17thof October.” Cedric sighed. “Fred, you?”

“Same. George?”

“Of course, brother mine. Lee?” George nodded.

“Yep, me too. Draco?”

“OWLs and NEWTs, both in October.” Draco answered.

“Me too.” Neville said.

“And me.” Hermione added.

“I will be sitting my OWLs in October, But I’ve decided to wait until June for my NEWTs.” Astoria offered.

“Yes.” Luna agreed. “I’m doing the same as Astoria.”

“Mars? Ares?” Remus asked.

The two boys exchanged looks and both nodded.

“We’ll be joining our brothers in October.” Ares spoke for them.

“In that case, will I be correct in assuming that you’ll be spending a fair amount of time in here?” Remus asked. “Because if the ladies are joining you, I will need to organise a suitable chaperone.”

“Yes and no, Uncle Remus. Yes, we’ll be here and no, you don’t need to, we’ve already asked Professor McGonagall if Grandma Augusta is suitable as a study monitor.” Cedric responded.

“Ah… yes, I dare say Professor McGonagall would agree with that.” He nodded a few times. “Very well, Fiends. I suggest that you head for the Great Hall and plan an early night. Luna and Astoria, you have three weeks to prepare for your OWLs, the rest of you have five weeks until your NEWTs. That’s not a lot of time.”

“Yes, Uncle Remus.” Came from all eleven teenagers and one by one, they gave their honorary Uncle a hug and headed for the doors that corresponded with their own trunks.

 

**Saturday, 16 th of December 1995.**

With the Express heading back to London the next day, students and staff alike were preparing for Yule and Christmas celebrations. The end of term feast was due to start in a few hours and while most students would be returning to their families, there were always a few that chose a relaxed and happy Hogwarts holiday, over a strained and miserable family one.

It broke Dumbledore’s heart that a child would choose an almost empty old castle over their family home, but since the death of Harry Potter, he’d come to realise that not all houses were homes. And so this year, he was going to do something that he’d argued against, for years in fact. This year he was going to promote that unhappy children being removed from uncaring, irresponsible or abusive guardians and have those children fostered by a family in the Wizarding world.

Initially, he would suggest that the children in the mentor program that were in such homes, stay with their mentor partner’s home during holidays, but in the long term, he was going to suggest that such children be removed permanently.

He was still undecided as to whether or not Severus and Minerva’s suggestion of investigating each child’s home life, when they first showed signs of accidental magic, was sound.

But… there could be no doubt that children raised in the Wizarding world adapted to Hogwarts easier and it was rare that a muggle-raised child was as comfortable with their magic as their Wizarding raised counterparts. That’s not to say that there weren’t exceptions, but the more contact they had, they more comfortable they were. Miss Dagworth-Granger, Mr Jordan and the Black twins were prime examples. The twins had lived being solely muggle-raised by their mother until her death, when Remus Lupin stepped in, and even then Remus kept their home as a fine blend of both worlds. Miss Dagworth-Granger and Mr Jordan's association with the Black twins and then later with the Prewett Heirs simply reinforced that belief.

Of the thirty-one students that had been eligible to sit their exams early, nine had sat their OWLs, sixteen had sat their NEWTs and four had sat both OWLs and NEWTs. Albus had been forced to read and re-read their results, which had been sent to him to forward to the students. Not one student had failed an exam they’d sat, in fact… not one student had scored anything less than an EE, there’d only been six students to do so and three of those were those sitting both OWLs and NEWTs. All six EE’s were for the same subject, Divination. Perhaps it was time to reassess Sybil’s contract?

One child had abstained, he was a second year student and as a reason for refusing the offer, he stated that if he sat the exams, he’d be forced to return to his pureblood family sooner than he wanted. Seven years of boredom was a small price to pay, for freedom of his family’s expectations.

Which brought Albus right back to where his meanderings had started. Removing vulnerable children from unsuitable housing. Ah, well… something to think about over the holidays, the next Wizengamot meeting wasn’t until Thursday 1st of February, he would just have to remember to discuss the matter with his Professors at the January staff meeting.

Right now he had students to find and results to hand out.

 

**Wednesday, 3 rd of July 1996.**

Albus and Minerva studied the last of the student profiles for the incoming, placing them in the appropriate pile.

“Well, tha’s nay so bad.” Minerva’s brogue told how tired she was.

“No, indeed it’s not, but still far more than I’d hoped for.” Albus acknowledged.

“How many?” Severus Snape sat at the far end of the table, scribbling notes and checking them against a large book. The book of Names.

“Seven.” Albus sighed.

“Seven?” Snape repeated. “That’s far less than last year.”

“Yes, we had fifty-three last year, but that was for the entire school, this is just the incoming first years.” Minerva agreed. “Still, seven is a marked improvement. I hope it continues.”

“From your lips to Lady Magic’s ears.” Snape intoned formally.

A house-elf popped into the room.

“Master Snape, sir? Jelly is having a letter for Master Snape, sir.” The little elf beamed as she performed her appointed task.

“Thank you, Jelly.” Snape nodded graciously to the young elf, he knew it was her first solo task. “Please attend me when I’ve returned to my quarters, I have a task I would appreciate you undertaking.”

The little elf bounced slightly before taking a deep breath and nodding.

“Yes sir, Master Snape, sir. Jelly will.” And away she popped.

“Severus?” Dumbledore asked. “A task?”

“With Draco’s birthday in a few days, Narcissa and Lucius are hosting the Fiends and they’ve asked me if I would transport the Dagworth-Grangers from Salisbury to the manor.” Snape replied. “While I could easily respond by sending an owl or even floo-calling, Mipsy asked if I might have something young Jelly could do. She’s gone along with other elves on deliveries, so this should hold no difficulties.”

“Ah…” while Dumbledore’s curiosity was sated, Snape was opening the letter.

A brief read through and Snape let out a most un-Snape-like sound. Laughter.

“Severus?!” McGonagall gasped.

“I have no idea how they do it, but those bloody Fiends…” Snape’s deep chuckle filled the room. He leant back in his seat and shook his head in amusement. “Six years ago, Mars and Ares told me it would happen, but I refused to believe it.”

“Severus?” Dumbledore asked.

“It appears that you are going to have to adapt, Headmaster, it has been many years since Hogwarts was home to a married couple.” Snape answered.

“Married? Who’s getting married?” Dumbledore blustered.

“Remus Lupin and Auror Tonks. According to Draco,” Snape held up the letter, “she got tired of waiting for him to ask, so she took matters into her own hands and did the proposing herself.”

“Oh, my.” Dumbledore whispered.

“But the protocols?” McGonagall asked.

“She followed them, even went so far as to ask Mars and Ares for permission. After all, Remus is seneschal to both House Black and House Potter.” Snape shook his head, again. “Her parents and the Fiends hammered out a betrothal agreement that all are pleased with. Nymphadora is reported to have argued over the date of the wedding, but Remus and the Fiends won and the nuptials will take place on the Yule Solstice. Draco would have me warn you, Headmaster. Narcissa and Andromeda will be requesting an appointment to discuss the possibility of Hogwarts being the venue.”

“Ah…” Dumbledore hedged.

“Draco states that Hogwarts would not be required to do anything other than provide a space for the ceremony and reception.” Snape added.

“Well… I suppose… Remus is one of our Professors.” Dumbledore allowed.

“And Nymphadora is a graduate and has been a guest Professor.” Minerva added.

 

**Thursday, 21 st of August 1997.**

“Good morning.” Snape’s quiet voice greeted those entering the staff room.

“Good morning, Severus.” Remus’ smile was almost blinding.

“Someone’s happy.” Minerva offered.

“I would agree.” Snape replied, tilting his head in consideration.

“I am and you’re not going to spoil it.” Remus warned.

“Alright, gentlemen, enough posturing.” Minerva warned. “We need to get the incoming students reviewed and then we can go home again. Get to it.” She directed and the seven present Professors nodded.

“First, I have news…” Remus put forward.

Everyone turned to Remus, a few with raised eyebrows, others with a little confusion. News usually came at the end of the review session.

“Ran into Oliver Wood earlier this week. He’s been offered reserve keeper for Puddlemere.” Remus said, not waiting.

“Oh, lovely.” McGonagall smiled.

“Also Mr Flint? Wood tells me that he signed on with Tutshill, also as a reserve, but as a chaser not a keeper.”

“He should do quite well there, Severus.” McGonagall offered.

“He should.” Snape agreed.

“Also… the Fiends? They’re all in the Ministry. With the Liaison Office now fully established, Mione, Draco and Neville are there permanently. Ares and Mars have moved over to the Aurors. Fred and George have moved to Wizengamot Administration Services, while Luna is apprenticing under Amarillus Foppington in Misinformation. And Cedric’s got a junior post in the Minister’s office alongside Percy Weasley.”

“And Astoria Greengrass will be apprenticing under me, here at Hogwarts.” Snape added.

The next few minutes were filled by the other Professors offering updates on other students, before Remus once again, spoke up.

“Also… Dora…”He took a deep breath. “Dora and I… we’re having… we’re expecting a baby.” The last four words came in a rush. “We’re going to have a baby.” He repeated more calmly. “The healers think, first half of April.”

For seconds there was silence, the silence of shock. Eventually, it was Snape that broke the stunned silence.

“Well, well… tripped you up, did she?” Snape chuckled.

“Oh, be nice… and yes, she bloody well did.” Remus snarked back, causing Snape to throw his head back and laugh. Remus reached back behind Aurora Sinistra, who was sitting between he and Snape, to smack Snape about the head and shoulders with a hastily conjured, rolled up newspaper.

 

**Friday, 3 rd of April 1998.**

Professor McGonagall stood and called for the students’ attention.

“Good morning. A quick announcement, before the day begins. Professor Lupin apologises, but his classes for today are cancelled.” She waited while the students had a quick burst of disappointed chatter, before falling quiet again. “In happier news, Professor Lupin also asks that I inform you of the reason behind that cancellation. Edward Remus Lupin was born late last night, just a few minutes prior to midnight. A healthy 6lb 4oz, baby boy, who is already showing signs of his mother’s metamorphmagi abilities. Professor Lupin says classes will resume as per normal on Monday and recommends that those sitting exams this year, read... or at least _**open**_ , ‘The Highs and Lows of Magic; A history in brief’, by Heracles Poindexter, as this will be the next material covered.”

More chatter and McGonagall sat back down. She leant towards Snape and whispered. “Remind me to put it in my calendar. Resign before Edward is eleven. There is no way I want to teach him, not with the Fiends as his honorary uncles and aunts.”

“Hmm… It will depend… On whom he takes after. His mother? Or his father? Remus is a Marauder, but Nymphadora? She was a pleasant student, surprisingly good at potions, given her clumsy nature.” Snape responded.

 

**Saturday, 13 th of September 1998.**

Ares’ patronus burst into Remus’ classroom, emerging from the wall in a shower of sparks.

“Uncle Remus? I need to ChatterBowl with you. Right now. Urgent.” Ares voice was sharp, causing a few of Remus’ seventh year students to catch their breaths, Ares was well known for not getting stressed.

“Go, Professor, go.” Urged Colin Creevey, waving his hand towards the door.

“Thanks, just be a minute.” Remus bolted for his office at the rear of the classroom.

It took him bare seconds to pull out his ChatterBowl and set it ready to connect to Ares’. A pinch of floo-powder and a quick _incendio_ and Ares’ voice emerged from the small flame.

“Uncle Remus?”

“Ares? What’s wrong? What is it?”

“Not wrong. Right.”

“Right?”

“Yep. Ced just 'bowled me. The muggle Prime Minister, the Pope and the Archbishop of Canterbury want to meet representatives from our Ministry.”

“Whoa! When? Who? Where?”

“When? Today, we leave inside the hour. Who? Scrimgeour wants, Kingsley, Dumbledore, McGonagall and Lucius as the senior team. Cedric Mars, Mione, Draco, Neville and I are to be the junior team. We’re to explain the mentor system, from both sides and how we see magic fitting into the muggle world.”

“Oh, cub.” Remus gasped. "That's marvelous."

“I gotta run, but I’ll patronus as soon as we’re done. Could be real quick or an all-nighter. Don’t wait up!” With that Ares was gone.

Just in time for a patronus from Dumbledore to appear.

“Remus, dear boy. Minerva and I have to dash to the Ministry, can you slot her class in with yours, please? If you haven’t heard from them Cedric, Mars or Ares will likely contact you in the next few minutes. Feel free to update your class as to why.” The ghostly phoenix spoke with Dumbledore’s voice and then exploded in a ball of blue fire.

“Oh, boy.” Remus sighed. “Good luck, cubs.” He took a deep breath and re-entered the classroom. “Right…”

“Everything alright, sir?” Colin asked.

“Yes, Mr Creevey. Ares was just giving me a heads up on an unexpected meeting. Now, we’re going to wait, as Professor McGonagall’s class will also be joining us, she and the Headmaster will be joining Ares and a few others.” He waved as a head appeared around the edge of the doorframe. “Come on, come in. Take a seat, get comfortable, you’ll be here for a while.” Once everyone was in and seated, he went on. “Right, so… Most, if not all of you are aware of the Headmaster’s ‘Hide in Plain Sight’ theory, in relation to the muggles?” Heads nodded. “Okay, good. Well… He, Professor McGonagall, Mars, Ares and a few others are meeting with some of the ranking muggle authorities. Today. Unexpectedly. In the next hour.”

“I can understand Ares stressing out.” Colin whistled. “I’d be freaking out. I **_am_**  freaking out and I’m not involved.”

“Me, too.” Remus laughed.

 

**Sunday, 28 th of March 1999.**

Minerva McGonagall studied the flat bowl on her desk. The only thing on the desk. A desk that last night was laden with student essays.

A pensieve was an unusual object to find on a Professor’s desk and certainly not something she expected to see on a Sunday morning. She just hoped that the letter attached to it could provide some explanation.

A flick of her wand and the letter rose in the air, another flick and it opened out. Two cards floated free of the much larger letter. A quick glance showed them to be invites to a pair of weddings. Mars’ on the morning of the Summer Solstice and Ares’ later the same day. A quick read through of the letter and Minerva was certain that the pensieve was from the Black twins.

_Professor McGonagall,_

_We promised ourselves that we would show you these memories when we left Hogwarts, but we weren’t seventeen when we left, so we talked to Uncle Remus and the other Fiends and decided that we should wait._

_First we planned on our seventeenth birthdays, then that got pushed back to claiming our Lordship, which got pushed back to the muggle integration project, which in turn got pushed aside._

_A meeting of the Fiends, yesterday, reminded us that we still hadn’t done this._

_So… here you are. Mione and Luna charmed the pensieve, it will only let you view the memories we put in, anyone else will be ejected. There is a reason for that and once you’ve viewed the memories, that will be self-evident._

_This is not a prank, Professor, and you may use any means you feel necessary, to verify the authenticity of what you see._

_These memories are the truth behind the Fiends and what we call the Marauders’ Legacy. You will not find them easy to watch, but we hope that you will watch them from start to finish._

_Ares and Mars Black._

Minerva frowned at the letter, it was definitely from them, it bore both their Lordship seals. Seals that required the magic of the legitimate Lord to leave an impression, without it the impression would just be a set of round rings. While she debated with herself, she called a house-elf for tea and toast, if the memories were as bad as they intimated, she was going to need fortification.

 

An hour and half later, tears trailed down Minerva’s face, as she emerged from the pensieve.

“Those boys, those poor, poor boys.” She didn’t know whether she wanted to hug them... or curse Dumbledore.

But she understood better now. Seeing the war from Harry and Hermione’s points of view was downright scary, seeing Sirius Black fall through the Veil and the devastation that Harry felt, hurt her heart. Seeing how close the Statute was to falling and how the muggles were reacting, made her very glad that Harry and Sirius hadn’t just walked away. They could have and after having watched their memories, Minerva wouldn’t have blamed them.

But they had stayed. Not just stayed, but were actively working to see that the future they knew never happened.

And they were well on the way.

 

**Sunday, 23 rd of June 2003.**

The headlines screamed across the Prophet’s front page.

**_YOUNGEST MINISTER FOR MAGIC - EVER!_ **

**_In a historic moment, Cedric Diggory, was declared Minister for Magic._ **

_Cedric, aged only 24 was one the founders of the Liaison Project that involved integrating the Wizarding World into the Mainstream World. I’m sure that many graduates, who attended Hogwarts between 1989 and 1995, will remember Cedric and his foster brothers fondly._

The article went on about Cedric’s time at Hogwarts and the Ministry, detailing how the Liaison Project evolved from a simple mentoring system to the in-depth, muggle-supported program that was now in place.

 

**Sunday, 31 st of July 2005.**

The eleven Fiends sat in the library in Sorrell Cottage. So much had changed, but the people they trusted, stayed the same.

“So…? We did it.” Ares said.

“We did.” Mars grinned at his brother.

“We’ve come a hell of a long way.” Cedric added.

“And now we’ve passed the point of no return.” Fred added.

“The day it all started.” George added.

“Harry’s twenty-fifth birthday.” Ares nodded.

“Yes.” Draco smiled as he sighed, his shoulders falling and tension seeping away.

“Yeah.” Astoria agreed. “I hadn’t realised how tense I was, until this morning.”

“And now, it’s all gone.” Hermione tilted her head and rubbed her distended belly. “If only this one would go.” She was already days past her due date.

“Oh, love, she’ll come when she’s ready.” Astoria assured her.

“I know, I just… I’d like to see my feet again, you know?” Hermione pouted. Then caught her breath. “Oh, blast.”

“You had to tempt fate and Lady Magic, didn’t you, Mione?” Ares sighed.

“I think I just may have. Who’s taking me to St Mungo’s?” Hermione breathed shallowly until the contraction passed.

“That would be your darling husband, Mione. He’s the one responsible for knocking you up, earlier than you’d planned.” Mars grinned.

“Here’s the medi-key.” Astoria handed Ares a leather band. “You take Mione and we’ll let everyone know.” She assured him.

“Thanks, ‘Tori.” Ares gently lift Mione from her chair and held her bridal-style in his arms. He held up his hand, Hermione linked her fingers with his and lipped the band over their joined hands. “Let’s go do this.” Once Hermione nodded, he said the activation phrase. “Maternity day.” There was a twisting in the air and they were gone.

 

Hermione looked at the bundle in her father’s arms and shook her head.

“This is your fault.” She told her husband. “You and Mars.”

“Me? Us? How do you figure that?”

“Twins? I wonder where that came from? There’s no history of twins in the Dagworth-Granger line, nor in the Watkins line.” She reminded him. “But you pair?”

“Huh. Alright, I’ll give you that one.” Ares remembered telling Gwen he and Sirius should be twins and seeing lines on a chalkboard with their chosen names.

“Too bad if you won’t, I’m taking it anyway.” She poked her tongue out at him.

“Oh you two, stop it.” The midwife chided, shaking her head. Cho Chang, soon to be Diggory, re-entered the room. “So, I need some names for their birth certificates.” She held up a clipboard and a fountain pen. “What are you calling them?”

Hermione and Ares exchanged long speaking looks. They’d long ago decided what they wanted to name their children, but as was typical for them, the names they’d chosen, didn’t suit. It meant a few frantic moments between the new parents, while their unnamed children were passed from one set of arms to another.

“We wanted to keep true to the family traditions.” Hermione answered. “So our daughter is Titania Calypso.”

“And our son is Caius Mercury.” Ares added. “Calypso and Mercury for their grandfather Sirius.”

“Titania and Caius for the Dagworth-Granger tradition of naming their children after Shakespearean characters.” Hermione finished.

“Oh, lord.” Professor McGonagall poked her head in the door. “There’s two of them.” She turned to someone in the hallway. “Severus, there’s two of them. Albus, Albus, consider this my resignation. I’ll give you another three years, but that’s it. I’m not teaching Lupins, Blacks, Prewetts, Jordans, Diggorys, Longbottoms or Malfoys, not again. Once was more than enough.” She turned back to the maternity room and it’s laughing occupants. “I’m not.” She affirmed. “I’m too old to live through that again.”

Snape stood in the doorway. “I think I shall join you, Minerva. Once **_was_** __enough.” He agreed.


End file.
